All Worked Out

First day of First Grade over. Diagnosis, difficult start followed by uncontrolled bouts of glee due to awesome teacher. It started out fine this morning, Big T got himself up and dressed early and was good to go to school, until it was time for us to leave, then he had himself a little mini-meltdown. Saying he didn't want to stay, wanted me to stay, wanted to go home, you know, anything he could think of. Luckily, First Grade has Legos. Legos saved us this morning. I got him over to the play area with a couple other kids and was able to distract him for a bit. We went over to say goodbye and he started freaking out a bit, but got back into the Legos and was fine.

I picked him up and he said he really liked his teacher, that his teacher is really funny and they played fun games and had a lot of recesses. Needless to say, I'm very happy about this. I was really nervous for him this morning, as the transition from Kindergarten to First Grade is quite a big one. The bathrooms are not in your classroom anymore, the playground isn't just for you anymore, you're going all day long to school, hanging around with the big kids. It's different to be sure. And I was hopeful that we'd avoid the crying, but he really only does it with me. Which my wife likes to point out whenever she can.

But it ended up being a good first day. Tomorrow is the first day of Fall Ball, hopefully we'll get our hats, they didn't come in yet. All the other team hats came in, but not ours. It's also back to school night for Big T and for Little E's pre-school. So the schedule for tomorrow night it busy, and since the kids go to school about 30 minutes from where we play baseball, it's going to be a driving intensive night. Should be fun!

Close to Home

I don't usually post on current events, I figure I'm out of school, and I don't like watching the news as I feel they're all annoying and bothersome. But I was watching the news a lot last night because I saw a bunch of news vans in the area. And then I discovered that the girl who was kidnapped from South Lake Tahoe lived just a few minutes from my house. Now the house was literally on the wrong side of the tracks and not in the same demographic area as my house, but it's another reason to want to leave the city I live in. I looked at the house that they were in using Google Earth and holy crap, it's right by one of the driving ranges I go to. I'm a little stunned by this, but not that stunned that there were bad guys living in this area. It's not the nicest place. It's actually on a dirt road that cuts between two paved roads. I just figured there were meth labs and such there, but never anything like this.

I've never been this close to something that made itself a national news story. Of course, living by San Francisco, there's plenty of nuts there to make news and with Berkeley and Oakland close, tons of stories are told. But this one is almost in my backyard. I have a daughter of my own, as you may know, and I have many thoughts on what should happen to these creatures who kidnapped this poor little girl. None of them are nice thoughts.

What makes it more unreal for me is that I just finished reading a book called "Stolen Innocence" by a girl named Elissa Wall, who was in the FLDS and forced to marry at the age of 14 to her first cousin who was 19. I thought that was sick, and it was, but this story breaking right after reading that book has caused my paranoia for my little girl to shoot up a few notches. I used to say that her room would be her little princess castle, and now I'm thinking it's going to become an impenetrable fortress. So boys beware, this dad's not messing around. I'm going to go get that squeaky porch swing this weekend. It's never to early to be prepared.

On a happier note, we found out who T's teacher is going to be and that he doesn't have to get any supplies, just a pencil box. So that should be good. And Works Progress Administration, who I'm going to see at the end of September has started streaming their album on their site, so go check that out! wpamusic.com it's totally worth the trip.

Elementary

Working for the school district has recently reaped another benefit. They have implemented a policy whereby if you work for the district, and you want your kid in the district, you get priority. I don't know why this wasn't already a rule. But the important thing is that it now is a rule and Big T gets to go to the same school for First Grade that he did for Kindergarten. We're going to the back to school setup tomorrow where we'll find out who his teacher is, get his supplies list, and also find out if he's going to know anyone in his class from last year. The odds of him knowing someone are pretty high since they increased class sizes and eliminated teachers. So there are fewer classrooms this year full of first graders. I think he's excited, but I'm a little anxious, because first grade is where I started not wanting to go to school and would just sit outside the classroom feeling sorry for myself. After a few months I got over it, but I don't want his apprehension from the end of last year to carry over into this year. Hopefully he'll have a few friends and be okay. We've already been pimping his schedule to him. They have three recesses and a lunch, so the longest they're actually in class is only like 90 minutes. The other times it's like 45 minutes to an hour before they get a recess. Which sounds awesome to me. It's like just getting started on something and then going outside to play. Who wouldn't love that?

He also was really good on our golf outing last week. We played all 18 holes, and there wasn't anyone else out there so we were able to take our time. He hit a couple shots out of the sand traps that impressed me quite a bit. I was going to take the ball out of the sand so he could hit it off the grass, but he wanted to try it in the sand, so he just walked in and whacked it out of the trap. It's not that easy to do. He also hit one shot about 80 yards over a bunker to hit the green on the fly. It was one of the best shots I've seen. For a 6 year old at least.

As for me, Oakhurst was great to play again. Brought back many memories of spring afternoons in high school. I didn't play that bad either, so that was nice. I heard they're going to have another one of these days next month, so I'm already stoked to play again.

So bring on next week. T starts first grade, E starts pre-school, Fall Ball is starting again. It's gonna be a busy school year this time around. I hear it doesn't slow down until they graduate. From college.

The Game We All Must Play

I'm going to be playing golf on Saturday and on Monday. As you can tell by reading this, I'm pretty stoked about playing twice in three days. Saturday I'm going with my dad and Big T. It's gonna be his second time out on the real course. He asked me yesterday, while we were over at my dad's house, if I needed to come with them on Saturday. He asked if just he and my dad could go Saturday and then the next time, I could go with him. I asked him why he didn't want me to go, and he said, "If you go, and I go, and Papa goes, will we all fit in the golf cart?" When I explained that we could all fit, he reminded me that there were only spots for two golf bags on the back of the cart. So I told him that if we couldn't all fit, that I would carry my bag and walk so he and Papa could ride. He had to think about it, but he gave in and I'm allowed to go again.

The other awesome thing about going Saturday is that one of my wife's friends is throwing herself a birthday party, and now I don't have to go! Bonus, right? Monday, I'm playing at Oakhurst, which is a private course, but they're so desperate for players there's gonna be a special day of open play. I haven't played there since high school, since that was our home course. So that should be fun. Bring back memories of high school golfing. Walking through the rain, horrible winds, and the nice sunny days also. And there was that one time where a freshman pissed himself on the second tee. That was hilarious.

Something Changed

What changed you ask? Well, last night I signed up Big T for another season of Fall Ball, and in the process signed myself up for another season as well. I realize that previously I had stated that I wouldn't be signing him up. But some interesting information came forward that helped me to change my mind. One is that we won't be playing with the disadvantaged Little League in the next town over. I've also discovered that 'disadvantaged' is the liberal way to say poor minority children who have a career of crime ahead of them because they don't have any father figures and whose mom's are crackheads. Or something similar to that at least.

But we're in for another season. Hopefully it will go well as I already have another dad who wants to help, so that's gonna be great. And last night? No sink pee. So all in all, a productive evening. And I've discovered that he's also on the list of kids to get into first grade. We have to reapply every year, and hope that we'll get into the same school. So we're on the top of the list and unless they get more kids registering late or something, we should be in. So keep your fingers crossed for that one. 'Cause if he doesn't get in, we have to find another school. School starts on the 31st of this month. I'll have another update on this one next Friday, because that's when I was told to call back to make sure he's still on the good list.

Dreaming With My Eyes Open

Everybody is now home. They didn't arrive until a little past 9 on Monday. So they were travelling for almost nine hours. It's really only about a six hour drive. But there were plenty of potty breaks along the way. This homecoming, being so late, really has made the kids more tired than normal. They didn't wake up yesterday until almost 10 am. And at 6:30 in the a.m. I took them to my parents house. So they both slept through the move from bed to minivan, and then from minivan to beds at my parents house. I was pretty impressed that they'd slept so heavy. But this has had unfortunate side effects. Little E was a terror last night, which isn't her fault, she's just exhausted. But when she gets crazy tired like that she just whines and cries a lot. Even more than she usually does. But there came a point in her night where she just became to tired to sleep. So she kept getting up every fifteen minutes or so. Starting at about 8. We kept taking her back to bed, and finally went to bed ourselves a couple hours later. She kept coming out. My lovely wife discovered that there was a little present in her nighttime diaper and so she changed her, thinking that this newly fresh wrapper would help soothe her to sleep. But about 10:45ish, after almost three full hours of her getting up, we thought she was asleep.

We were watching TV (reruns of Malcom in the Middle) in our room when we heard little footsteps come down the hall and stop by our door. We decided to ignore her with the hopes that she'd just go to bed on her own. Then we heard her climbing the stool by our sink, which she usually uses to brush he teeth and put on her makeup with her mommy in the morning. Then we heard what sounded like water trickling into the sink. So I looked over and saw that it was not our little girl, but our six year old son peeing in the sink. He has reached the level of tired that he's been at before where he'll kind of wake up and just wander somewhere because he's gotta pee, and go in some weird place. He's gone in his closet, in the towel closet and almost in the corner of the living room once. But going in our sink was a new one. The thing is, the toilet was literally just a few feet away when he climed up the stool to pee in the sink. After he was done I had him wash his hands and asked him why he just peed in the sink, and he just sort of giggled and said, "I peed in the sink." and was basically asleep again. I don't think his eyes opened once during this whole ordeal. But he did hit his target pretty good. There was some tinkle sprinkle around the sink, which my wife cleaned up whilst I carried our sleeping almost first grader back to bed.

The thing is, it's probably a very environmentally concious thing to do. Peeing in the sink, there's no flushing, it just goes down the drain, and if you wash your hands in the same sink it will rinse it out and get residual soap there. But then again, it is the sink. So probably not something that I'll do on a consistent basis.

Airwolf

I've almost survived the no family weekend. They're all supposed to come back tonight sometime. I did spend Friday with my dad and bro playing golf on what was more or less a farm. Lots of goose poo. Lots of open space. Even saw a crop duster fly overhead. But it was fun, and we saw the Ports game after. Which was a combination AgNight, Raider Night, and Fireworks Night. The Raider night portion of the program consisted of four Raiderettes who would do little routines between the first few innings. I'm guessing these aren't the same Raiderettes who would normally appear at the football games. It reminded me of a high school football game. They seemed to have the same skill level that I remember the JV squad having.

But otherwise, I've rediscovered my mild insomnia, which always springs up when everybody leaves. I'm not sure why I don't sleep much. Well, that's not entirely true, I have a hard time falling asleep at night, but usually I can sleep well into the next day. I got to sleep in until 12:30 on Saturday. That was awesome. I had to shut the window, which sucks because I'd prefer it to be open, but there's Mexican's two houses down from me and they've brought their culture of having a lot of yard animals at their house. So there's roosters, chickens, and other noisemakers that I can't legally just eliminate. Though I've almost bought a slingshot a few times now. I'm getting closer to making that purchase. So that damn rooster starts crowing at around 5 every morning. I can hear it very well with my window open, but not so much with it closed. However on Friday, I discovered a few things. One, PG&E is stringing electrical wires at the end of my court. Two, they work on Friday mornings. Three, they like to be efficient as they do this work. Four, in order for them to be more efficient, they use a helicopter to carry the wires from one pole to another. Five, this helicopter is very very very loud when it's a mere 100 yards away. Enjoy this video of what was happening starting at around 7 in the a.m. I took this from my side yard. None of the cars you see are mine.

So that's what woke me up on Friday. Fun, eh? Thing is, it took me a while to find the chopper as the sound was echoing around my house and it would come only every 10 minutes or so. First I thought it was a medical helicopter going to rescue a horrible driver or something. But it wasn't because it kept coming back and it wouldn't allow me sleep. Which I need. And love.

So I'm glad everyone will be back home tonight. I miss my family and seem to need them in the house so I can sleep well. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be much better rested.

Air Conditioning

My family has left me for the excitement of the Happiest Place on Earth. It's always weird for me to come home to a house that I know will be empty all night. I've lived with people all my life, never had my own place so it's not even something that I can remember the old days. And since I've started working, I've either come home to people, or back before marriage, come home with plans to go see people. So I'm not sure what to do with myself. Luckily the A's are on tonight so I can fill my time with that. I'm taking Friday off work and going golfing with my dad and brother in Stockton. But the weekend? Not sure what I'm going to be up to yet. I'm sure I'll figure something out, maybe hit Chuck E. Cheese.

On a less pitiful note, the vans AC was repaired today. The cost? $285. The problem? A childs sock was stuck in the compressor. How did a sock get sucked into the AC unit? I don't really know. The mechanic said that it's possible that it was up on the dashboard, then fell into the defroster, then made its way into the more expensive part of the inner workings. I think that the kids got bored, T grabbed a sock and dared his little sister to cram it into a vent. She probably said OK, because at this point, she'll still do just about anything he says. And then a distraction was created, and whilst the parents were looking the other way, my three year old little angel broke our AC. So really it's both their faults, because honestly, I can't see a reason why there would be a sock up on my dashboard. Ah, kids. Such fun. Or maybe it was my wife. Hmmm.....

My Next Thirty Years

I've finally arrived at my third decade of life. So far, one day into it, not to bad. My wife took me and the fam to the A's game on Saturday for Rickey Henderson Day. It was really weird. Rickey started playing professional ball with the A's just a couple months before I was born and now he's in the Hall of Fame, and I watched as his number was retired just 30 years later. It was almost like growing up watching him play and break all those records to now has all happened over my lifetime. Sort of marking the era. But to get less philosophical, and more energetic, I've arrived at the big 3-0 as they say. My family took me bowling yesterday. I've realized that, although I enjoy bowling, I'm not that great at it. Also that I'd like to have my own bowling ball. I figure that I'll improve if I have a ball that is my own, it will do as I wish and attack more pins and not be so willing to miss simple spares. Also those balls at the alley have ginormous finger holes and I have slight blisters from having to grip them so tightly to keep them from flying out at imprecise angles.

After bowling we went to Red Robin where I was able to get one of the top 3 unhealthiest hamburgers ever. The Royal Red Robin. It contains the bun and burger, tomato, lettuce, mayo, cheese, bacon and a fried egg. It's delicious if you've never had it, but to make it slightly less deadly, I order it without Mayo. Mainly because I don't really know where it comes from. I know where ketchup and mustard come from, but I've never seen the plant that makes Mayo. Plus, and lets be honest here, mayo just tastes horrible. During the meal the waiter overheard my wife mention that it was my birthday and so at the end they came and sang the royalty free birthday song a la Red Robin. I didn't want them to do this, but I discovered that at Red Robin, you get a free ice cream sundae. And it was delicious. I did share it with everyone, of course. But keep that in mind if you're looking for a free ice cream sundae. They're very tasty there.

And to complete the celebration of me turning into a thirty-something? We bought a children's game called Wii Sports Resort. I enjoy this new game quite a bit. There's something soothing about throwing a Frisbee to a virtual dog. I don't know why.

But now the countdown for my wife, my kids and her parents leaving me for Disneyland is down to two days. I'm not yet sure what I'll be doing, but maybe I'll figure out exactly how old you need to be to have a mid-life crisis. Or get a dog or something, who can say for sure?