Off Roading

Many of you already knew this, but it was Alison's birthday on Thursday! Why didn't I write a post on Thursday, her big day? Well, because we were too busy celebrating, of course. One of the best parts, though, was the cake that our friends John and Sally baked for her. It was decorated like a settlers board! Quite amazing. I'll post a photo when I have time.

However, I wanted to post some other photo's from the year. These in particular are of an off-road adventure. A few guys from church like to take their trucks out to the desert and muck around a bit. Its quite fun. I usually come back with sand in my hair and the temperature gauge of the truck higher than normal. But no serious damage. I think.

The Toys and the Playground

Heading Up the Hill

I got stuck. Ross had to pull me out.

One of the guys showing off some of his moves.

The Last Week of School

I think I mentioned last week that we are on our last leg of the school year. Last week, the students finished up exams, and us teachers have finished grading the exams and have since turned in the grades. So if all that was done last week, what are we doing this week? Well, in a day or two the report cards will be printed, and we'll be stuffing envelopes with report cards, but until then, there hasn't been a whole lot to do. Some administrative work and organizational work, but Alison and I largely finished that last week.

However, we have been working on something far more important: Settlers of Catan. This board game can be described as a mix of monopoly and risk. I played it in college, and Alison and I have gotten hooked on it this year. We've been playing at least two games every day at school. I've won a few games, Alison has won a few, and in general its been a good time. I've even started tracking the statistics of how many times each number gets rolled. Should be very interesting.

Alison and I will be bringing this game with us this summer, so we'll be able to play it all throughout the summer. Good times are a comin'!

Round 2's First Photo Shoot

Below you will find the first ultrasound pictures that Alison and I got of our little guy. Before yesterday, I have never been able to see the baby in the ultrasound pictures whenever I've seen them, but yesterday I pushed through my blindness and saw. It probably helped that the doctor was there saying, "Its there. No, its there. ahrhghg!! THERE!!" So for those of you who have trouble seeing, the second picture is labeled with the baby.

When we got to the hospital, Alison hadn't drunk enough water. Apparently more water helps the ultrasound. We went into the doctors office and she hooked Alison up to the apparatus.

You can see on the picture a few dots that go the breadth of Round 2. These are the measurements. Apparently, though Round 2 is only 10 weeks since conception, he/she is the size of a 11 week old. Good stock, those Perkins'. The little tike was quite active, too. Limbs seemed to be flailing all over the place as he/she moved & grooved about.

We were also able to see the baby's heart beating. Its fairly unproportional, at least in terms of our hearts/bodies. It looked as if the whole stomach area (or the midsection at least) was bulging in and out, in and out. Quite quickly, too.

I'm not sure if this is true, but it almost seems as if you can see the outline of the skull bones. I read in the pregnancy books we have that its this time when the bones start to harden and form a little more, even though he/she is only about 2 inches long!

Well, that's all for now. Enjoy the pictures. I'm sure we'll have more as time goes on.

Baby Names and Bargaining

This week has been chock full of excitement. I did something this week that I had never done before - when I went to get my haircut, I also asked for a shave and beard trim. To be honest, I was a little disappointed. It was a little less smooth than I had anticipated, and there wasn't a significant difference in a self-trim on my goatee. However, after a haircut, the barbers here always give a great head massage, so all in all I was satisfied at the end.

The I got my haircut because I had a raggedy mop on my head, and it didn't look professional enough for the person who was running security at the school's graduation. Well, it probably wouldn't have made that much of a difference, but I felt more respectable. And we didn't have any problems this year. It was really great.

So anyway, onto the great adventures:

1. Baby Names: We've gotten some entries for baby names from people. There are even entities who would like to contribute to Morejosh Inc, and pay for naming rights. However, we wouldn't want to stoop so low as to sell the name of our baby. Unless you have a lot of money. Here are some suggestions:

• Ross Montgomery Emily Louise Fender Mepham (going for the quintuple middle name)
• Owen
• Wycliff (actually, it's someone else's suggestion, but I'm stealing it anyway).

You can see in the side bar, too, the current size of our baby. Right now, its about the size of a small plump. The little guy is really growing quite quickly these days. Fingers and toes already, bones are starting to harden. Its quite amazing.

2. The worst barterer in the world: So my car needed some work - part of the muffler was shot. I took it to the garage. He said that he needed to completely cut out the section, and he'd weld in a completely new part. When I asked how much he said, "12 Dinars." (about $30). Now, this seemed reasonable as he was going to completely replace the part, so I just said ok. I didn't feel like it was too much to pay, and didn't feel the need to negotiate.

However, I think this confused him. I think he was expecting me to barter with him. In his confusion, he said, "Ok, 10BD." It confused ME. But yes, he actually LOWERED the price. I'm not really sure why.

A Completion of the Social Revolution?

Before I start this post - I must give a shout out unless you missed it. Alison is pregnant. Read more about it on the previous post. Also, check out the app to the right. --> This shows the development of Round 2, as we call him. Quite cute, isn't he! Anyway, on to the subject of this post.

I just read a biography about Vladimir Putin, the current prime minister of Russia and former president. Even though he is only prime minister, which is a lower post in the executive, it is his protege, Dmirtry Medvedev, who has taken the role of president. However, many people believe that Putin still ultimately calls the shots. In the biography, I learned how Putin was born to a lower middle class family, went through soviet indoctrination and decided to work for the KGB as a result, and eventually worked himself into russian politics. It was, it seems, an accident of history that he was catapulted into the presidency at the end of Boris Yeltsin's 8 year self implosion.

So Putin rose from being a relative unknown in his country to being the leader of one of the most powerful countries in teh world. Russia isn't an economic powerhouse at the moment, but certainly their arsenal of nuclear weapons makes them relevant. And Russia does what it wants. You got to admit, its no small accomplishment on Putin's part.

This got me thinking. There are three other countries who are or will soon rise to be THE world powers of the most consequence:

• United States: the worlds only hyperpower after the fall of the Soviet Union. After enjoying the hegemony, we are having to deal with a multipolar world.
  
• China: Regaining world power status after a century or two hiccup of not being a world power. And, basically they own US debt.
  
• India: they have 1 billion people and, really, they do most of the work for the US anyways. It won't be long before they are getting the majority of profit from their own work.
  

In each of these countries, the leader has rose from relative obscurity to be the leader of a very powerful nation. Barack Obama is the most recent member of this club. However, Hu Jintao - the president of China - came from a nondescript family. Manmohan Singh, the current prime minister and head of governemnt also came from a poor family and shares Hu's characteristic of not being raised by either of his parents. Singh isn't even a Hindu. He's sikh, which is a major deal in itself (imagine a jewish man becoming president of the US).

In fact, regarding parents, I believe the same is somewhat true for Obama. While his mother did not die until he was an adult and married, she moved around a lot and he lived with his grandmother for a portion of his life.

None of these men are from the "establishment", so to speak. They are not from the Bush Dynasty or from the Kennedy clan. Putin does not have connections to the powerful families of Russia, and Hu is not from the ancient families of China. Particularly in the case of Putin and Obama, the normal people clamor over them, and the "establishment" is eager to line up behind them to gain their own brownie points (or in Russia's case - cower in fear as he crushes them with greater fury than Alison v Ants in our kitchen).

Have we reached a revolution of class when it is those who were once poor, and are now rich, who run the four most powerful or soon to be powerful countries in the world? Have we usurped the borgouisie and have the proletariate taken over?

Somehow I thought it would have been different...