A Change In Plans: Surprises Are In Order

I have reported before that we don't yet know whether Round 2 is a boy or a girl. Its still a mystery to us. Alison had a checkup a few weeks ago, and when she went, she refused the ultra-sound (the doctors here do ultra-sounds like they're going out of style). Its just an unnecessary expense.

Well, we* are solidly into our third trimester, with only about 11 weeks to go, and well, we've decided to do it the old fashioned way. That's right - break out your "I like Ike" stickers and start thumping "boogie woogie bugle boy" on your stereo, because we're going old school (in fact, Alison is quite often barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen making something scrumptious).

We've decided that we are going to keep the gender unbeknownst to anyone - particularly ourselves - until Round 2 is a ball of wriggling baby in Alison's arms. Then we can see with our own eyes if we have the next Albert Einstien or Marie Curie (or N. Gregory Mankiw or Barbara Ward, if you're into that sort of thing).

"But wait!" you might object. "How will you know what else to buy!? Boy things or girl things!?" We have been very blessed by friends both here in Bahrain and across the pond. This summer, people were very giving towards us, and we got lots of great things. So much, in fact, that we didn't spend a dime of our own money until about three weeks ago when we bought a stroller (for $50, no less!).

In keeping with the theme of surprises, Alison had a surprise baby shower thrown by some of the women in the church this last Saturday, and you can even watch the surprise below. I, of course, left her to her party and went home, but she came back with a whole bunch of loot for the baby. We have enough clothes now, that we probably don't need to go out and by a whole lot else (not to mention the fact that we're hoping to play the hand-me-down game with the other couples who've got kids who are just ahead of Round 2).



Some of the things given to Alison this last time:

• Fantastic clothes
• Soft ducky robe that fully wraps up baby (gonna be honest - not sure how to describe it. There'll be pictures at some point, I'm sure)
• Bible story bath time books (complete with an elephant that squirts water from the nose)
• A crib thing that twirls toys above the baby's head while it lies in the crib
• books!

So I'm sure there will be more fantastic things to share in the 11 weeks to come. And 11 weeks makes it seem very, very close. Before I know it, the grand finale will be upon us. Don't worry - I'll document it all on here.

And now for the brief update of where Round 2 is in the developmental process. He's not doing anything all that new, just getting bigger (as Alison could tell you - he's pushing up against internal organs quite a bit these days).

• The baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds
• He is tad over 15 inches long from head to heel
• His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature
• His head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain.

I will say though, our little guy is quite active. He does summer salts inside the womb, I think, and he's even moving enough that I can see Alison's tummy poke out when he's pushing hard enough!

*To all the women who have been pregnant or feel the right to be indignant even if you never have been pregnant yourself: yes, I know that I myself don't have the same experiences as Alison - the one who is physically carrying our child. But she says "we're pregnant" and "our pregnancy" and "our trimester", so I feel quite comfortable in keeping the syntax on my blog.

Google, Packers and the End Times

I love Google. Some people think that Google will someday take over the world and control us all (does this mean they are the anti-christ!? One world government!?). They might be right, but to be honest - I would be alright with that. Google's stated goal is to organize the entirety of information on our planet. This is quite a project, and they have already got in trouble when they started to upload books onto "google books". Of course, the copyright holders started coming forward to protest the illegitimate use of their works.

In general, though, the idea of putting as many books online - and making them searchable - isn't a bad idea, at least if the content isn't in violation of copyright laws. Google has also started to map Bahrain, and quite frankly, has the best maps of Bahrain that I have yet to see. Most of the maps made and published here are out of date or simply incomplete.

In fact, Google makes it very easy to organize all of MY information - which I'm sure makes the conspiracy theorists even more nervous. I use their finance section to keep track of our investments, their sites to manage my school website for students, upload and manage my pictures, share and collaborate on documents relating to work projects, use the calendar application to create a calendar on my school website, upload my own videos, and gmail for my email. In fact, I look forward to the day that Google buys out Facebook and integrates that to their network. It would be complete the last schism.

But the most recent reason that I love Google is because of youtube. In my last post, I mentioned there are some things I don't get, and one of those few things is Green Bay Packer football (American football, mind you). However, some blessed soul has decided to upload the highlights for each NFL game every week. I'm not sure if it breaks some sort of copyright, but I don't think so. Its not quite as good as the whole game, but I'm not complaining.



In other news about the signs of the times - see how Jesus gave us the name "Barak Obama" as the anti-christ. Oh puh-lease.

"How I Know My Wife Loves Me" or "Treasures Found" or "Alhumdilla!"

My Grandparents lived in Morocco for 20 years back in the 1950's and 1960's, and I have often been struck by how different a life I lead compared to them. When they left America, they quite literally left America. Friends and family were distant and the comforts of familiar foods and other products were tasted only every few years.

Alison and I however, can enjoy much of what American companies have to offer, such as Caribou Coffee, Gilmore Girls from the DVD rental store, and over priced clothing stores such as Gap if we (read: alison) so choose.

However, there are certain amenities that have not yet reached Bahrain, or hardly ever show up at stores. These products, if they ever do reach the stores' shelves, are often sold out very quickly because the supermarkets do not keep them in stock. One such item is one of my favorites: Triscuits.

Any student who has had me for economics knows that I love Triscuits (I would often use it in examples). My favorite snack by far is Triscuits and pepper jack cheese. For the most part, I have only been able to enjoy Triscuits while in the States or when someone I know who works at the US Naval base (the base has their their own grocery store stocked with American products) "happens" to have an extra box that they "aren't going to eat".

We heard from some friends that one of the stores is currently carrying Triscuits, and we saw the evidence whilst watching their kids for them the other night. Inspired by this, we trekked out to the grocery store today and, as luck would have it, found the shelf where a few boxes of triscuits still straggled - looking for a home.

Find a home they will - right in my belly! Alison bought up the last 5 boxes of original flavor triscuits and some pepper jack cheese. Al Humdillah!!

The question now is how often we will consume them. They are a precious commodity, and I don't want to eat them willy-nilly. I would rather savor them and make the most of each suculent bite. In fact, Alison has just sat down next to me with an open box and some pepper-jack cheese. So now, in fact, would be a fan-TA-stic time to eat some triscuits.

What makes this snack so good? Let me tell you. 1) The crunch, texture and heartiness of the triscuit itself. 2) the cheese taste mixed in with that excellent crunch 3) the slight bite of the peppers to top it off... And, as Alison says in a fantastic American accent 4) "They're 'Merican!"

Indeed they are. Indeed they are.

The 1000th* Visitor!!

Congratulations to someone in Washington DC! You are the 1000th visitor to my blog! You looked at three separate pages on my blog and stayed for a full 1 minute and 25 seconds. I don't know your name, but thank you for visiting my blog. I feel honored.

Creepy. How do I know this about you!?

You may have noticed on the left of the screen there are a few different boxes that show where people come from. One of them is called Sitemeter, and this particular web site tracks where each person comes from.

That's right. I know. Why do I do this? No particular reason - I just think its kind of interesting. It provides quite a bit of information:

• IP address
• city
• country
• time you came
• how many pages you visited
• what link you clicked on to get to my site
• how long you stayed for
• what link you clicked on to leave my blog
• a dot on a world map showing where you came from
  

Hm... listing it like that makes it sound a little creepy. It almost makes me want to stop tracking it. But I won't. Most of my visitors come from Bahrain, and then the United States. If you click on the Clustrmaps, you'll see that, in fact, I've had visitors from every single continent except Africa. In fact, someone from India returned to the blog for a while.

I recognize the locations that most of the locations. For instance, dots that come from Arkansas I know are my friends Amos and Meredith. Dots that come from the Ukraine is my friend Alicia. Or at least I'm assuming they are them.

Now, having this 1000th visitor does not mean that 1000 distinct people came to my blog. Rather it means that my blog was visited 1000 separate times. Assuming that the same people visit every time there are 1-3 new blog posts, it probably means that there have been 30 or so regular readers (and add 5-10 non-counted on facebook). I'll make a wild guess that

Another anomoly of the system: My blog has been visited 600 distinct times in Bahrain, but I would guess that about 20% of those times have been my wife - and only because I set my blog as her home page. So every time she opens up her computer, it goes to the blog, and the information gets counted in the system.

So there you have it. Statistics. I kind of like the numbers and information, so its neat to see it on the website, even if I don't actually use it for anything. 1000th visitor, if you feel brave enough, feel free to identify yourself. You will get no prize, though.

*This is not truly the 1000th distinct visitor. That person will remain forever unknown. Rather, this is the 1000th distinct visitor since I have started tracking visitors, around the end of December 2008. At this pace, if I had started keeping statistics when I first started blogging, I'd be closer to 3000 distinct visits by now.

Bahrain 0-0 New Zealand

Saturday night, I had the opportunity to go to a World Cup qualifying match between Bahrain and New Zealand. Unfortunately, Bahrain didn't win, though they should have. They had 2 or 3 opportunities in front of the goal that only a team like my high school soccer team would have missed (we weren't that good). However, there were some exciting moments in the game, and a good time was had by all.

Bahrain and New Zealand play a second match next month, and the winner of this two-game series will go onto the World Cup in South Africa next summer. It would be quite the riot if Bahrain were to make it to the World Cup, and it would be a fantastic time to be in Bahrain, as the celebrations would be quite fantastic.

Anyway, here are some of the pictures and a video that we took while we were there.

Owen, Ross and I at the stadium.

Where the action took place.

The stadium from the outside. Owen commented that it looks like a space ship.

An enthusiastic crowd.