All Around the World

It appears that I am slacking on my posts. Betina was kind enough to point it out and give me a hard time about it. I guess I will have to do a better job of keeping up with posting or risk the ridicule.

For this post I will be going over the many locations that we have come up with for our vacations once we get to Abu Dhabi. As we will be closer to a lot of the locales, we will finally have the opportunity to travel to all those places we always wanted to see. So let's get started:

UK - Betina is a huge Anglophile and my oldest stepdaughter, Bailey, has always wanted to go to Ireland. I'm sure we will do all the touristy things that are expected of us as Americans. Looking forward to some fish and chips with a Guinness.

Germany - If we had the means to, but didn't go to, Germany, I'm sure Betina would bludgeon me to death. It has been many years since Betina has been to the "fatherland" and it have always wanted to take a fast German car out on the Autobahn. 

Italy - Another touristy destination. We will no doubt see the sights in Rome and make a trip to Vatican City. Food will be our main focus, though. We love Italian cuisine so we will be in a constant food coma.

Japan - This vacation is more for me than anybody, if I'm honest. I have always wanted to go to Japan and see where my favorite cars come from. I have also always wanted to see the many amazing temples they have in person.

These are my absolutely have to go destinations, although many more have been mentioned my Betina and the children. I guess it all really depends on how long we stay in Abu Dhabi and have close access to all these places. Only time will tell, but I get excited just thinking about it.

And here is the required picture of Aurelia:

A Little R & R

I'm playing Mr. Mom today, as I got to stay home with Aurelia. Our babysitter has pneumonia so I got to play hooky and spend some time with my baby. It's good practice for when we make the move to Abu Dhabi, as this will be my routine on a daily basis. 

She's awake now and playing in her bouncy seat. I think we are going to take the dogs out for a walk in a little while and take momma some lunch. Overall, a nice day off. Looking forward to having a lot of days like this.

Play Ball!

I have my two favorite women in the world laying next to me as I write this. A fussy baby and a perpetually exhausted wife are my bunk mates on a nightly basis and I wouldn't have it any other way. Bull Durham is playing in the background as today was Opening Day for baseball. The Rays won their opener in impressive fashion with a 9-2 shelling of the Blue Jays. Great start to a season with high expectations for the Rays, with many analysts picking them to win the American League.

In keeping with the baseball theme, Aurelia went to her first baseball game last week. We watched one of the Rays last spring training games, and it felt great to see baseball again.

In other news it appears that the school year is starting earlier this year in Abu Dhabi so we may be leaving sooner than we though, but its a wait and see situation for the time being.

That's all for now because Aurelia is fussing up a storm and Betina has about had it. Until next time.

Well Overdue

I know I said that I would update this more often, but of course I lag for about a month. In that time Betina got an official offer letter from ADEC, so we are for sure heading to Abu Dhabi! Now it's a matter of figuring out all the paperwork and what is going to happen with the kids. We are super excited and can't wait to make the trip. Betina and I told our families and they are looking forward to visiting us already.

Since my last update Aurelia had her first beach day. She seemed to love every minute of it and even took a nice nap in the shade.

I'm sure she will be a beach bum just like her mom in no time at all.

Well, even though it's been almost a month that's all I have. Slow month, but I'm sure things will pick up soon!

Weekend Update

I got a pleasant surprise last Friday as I got to go to Don "Big Daddy" Garlits' drag racing museum. I got to spend a couple hours taking in all the history and taking entirely too many pictures. The best part of the day was that Don himself took my group for a tour of his personal workshop and we got to hear some amazing stories of his racing days. There are too many pictures to post here so I made an album here, and even then I probably was only able to get about half of what there was to see. It is a trip that any respectable gear head should make.

While this was going on Betina was in New York City having her interview for Abu Dhabi. The interview went great, but we had to sweat out the weekend waiting to hear something back. Betina and I were both nervous wrecks and couldn't think of anything else. Well, we finally did hear something earlier today. Betina got an email saying that she was being recommended for the job! Now we just have to wait for the official offer letter, but that should coming in very soon. We are both really excited and anxious to get the process started.

While we nervously waiting, my company had their yearly picnic at one of the local state parks. The family and I showed up fashionably late, perhaps high fashion late, but overall we had a good time and it was a good opportunity to get some fresh air. We did some geocaching while we went for a walk and everyone seemed to have a good time. I took the opportunity to take some pictures of us in the "wild".

Fantastic Friday

Pitchers and catchers reported Friday for the opening of MLB spring training. This means that Opening Day is only a few weeks away and the start of another season of baseball along with it. What makes this time of the year so great is the unknown of the outcome of all the preparation. Every team is in contention and could make a run at the World Series. Now I may romanticize baseball a bit, as I have had a long history with the sport, but for me there is no finer game when it comes to the intensity of the play. What appears to be a lazy fly ball to left center that the center fielder catches easily is really the culmination of a chess match that takes place over 60 feet 6 inches of field. The pitcher must go through his mind and recall information on the hundreds of batters that he will face every year and make the right decision on what he should pitch. Four seam fastball, two seam fastball, cut fastball, change up, curve, slider. Low and inside, high and away, down the middle, in the batters face. Once the pitcher has made his decision it is then up to the batter to make his decision on whether or not to swing. He has less than half a second to decide how hard he wants to swing, where he wants to swing, and what angle his bat should make contact as to pull the down the line or push it the other way. All these decisions happen over 300 times on average per baseball game. Every out or hit is a victory that is short lived as the next batter comes up to bat to start the process over again. It is a sport where the best hitters only succeed a third of the time and legends do it four out of ten. It is this rate of failure that makes success that much more impressive.

Now that I'm done waxing poetic about baseball, Friday was also Valentine's Day. This year Betina and I decided to give each other non-physical presents in case we do end up moving across the world. I got Betina a hair cut that she has been wanting and a massage that she definitely deserved. Betina in turn will be paying for my first tattoo that I have been wanting for quite a while. I also decided to try my hand at making risotto for the first time. I now see why what appears to be a lump of gooey rice is expensive at fancy restaurants. For those who don't know, when you cook risotto you have to continuously watch and stir the rice as it cooks so that it doesn't stick and burn. After about half an hour of adding chicken stock a half cup at a time while stirring the risotto was finally done and completely worth it. Betina was super happy as I adding tons of mushrooms to the risotto and I was happy as I cooked up some nice steaks on the grill. All in all a nice, quiet night at home.

As I write this Betina is washing up the dishes after dinner, and the kids are in their rooms getting ready for bed. It feels like any other night that we have had a hundred times before except we, well at least I do, have the feeling of anticipation and excitement, knowing that in a week's time our world could be completely changed. We can only wait and see what happens after this weekend and see where our life takes us. Until then I'm sure I will keep on being nervous and anxious and hope for the best.

Catching Up

I had every intention of adding a new post at least twice a week, even maybe three. Unfortunately, life tends to have plans of its own as to what you will or won't do. You can try to fight it all you want, but it is a battle that you will never win. So after a week and half things slowed down enough for me to put some thoughts down:

My wife, Betina, is flying to New York City later this month for an interview that could bring about a drastic change in our lives. A good interview could see us moving to the Middle East later this year. It is an exciting and scary proposition that we can't seem to stop talking about. We've been reading every article and blog we can find to get an idea what our new life could hold for us. It is quite amazing seeing what the rest of the world has to offer, and how seeing a country for what it truly is can quickly rid you of any preconceptions you may have. I look forward to the opportunity to expand my and my family's lives and share the experience. Keeping our fingers crossed is all we can do for the time being.

At the Opening Ceremony for the XXII Olympic Winter Games. by Kremlin.ru (CC BY 3.0)

The Olympics are under way and in full swing. Aside from a slight snowflake malfunction during the opening ceremonies, everything seems to be going pretty well. I have done my part as true red-blooded American and cheered for our team as they compete in sports I would usually pass over for infomercials. Short track speed skating was pretty interesting, but I'm all but burnt out on figure skating. In the end though, it's all about 'Murica and showing the world that the "fat and lazy" Americans still have the best athletes in the world. We are more than happy to bring them to your home country every two years and prove it.

Michael Sam final Mizzou home game by Marcus Qwertyus (Own work) (CC-BY-SA-3.0), via Wikimedia Commons

It appears that this may be the first year that an NFL team could sign an openly gay player. Michael Sam from Missouri came out recently and has sent the sports world into a frenzy. Sam was a projected mid-round pick in the upcoming draft, and depending who you talk to, could have critically hurt his draft stock after his announcement. The question is whether or not an NFL locker room is ready for an openly gay athlete. There have been stories of suspected gay players, but never one that confirmed it himself. Personally, as long as the man can play at a high level and help the team, it shouldn't matter. In the end, all that will matter to the fans is wins. Success makes a lot of negative press go away. One only has to look at last year and the Manti T'eo story. The team did well and the story has all but gone away.

That's all I've got for this go-round. I'll be trying to update this more often and hopefully try to be interesting while doing it. See you later.