Another Of My Quirks (Top 100 Brands)

I suspect many readers of this blog will find the following thoroughly useless and uninteresting. To those finding themselves in this category I say, "You must take the good with the bad." In addition to my previously disclosed quirky fascination with the NFL Draft and box office results, I love brands and branding and periodically like to inspect my family's interactions therewith.

The annual list of the 100 most valuable brands was recently revealed. Below are the brands from that list with which we have frequent and/or regular deliberate interaction. (Brand rank in parentheses) Brand Name. Seriousness of our relationship in italics.

(1) Apple. Religious zealot.
(2) Google. Acquaintance of convenience.
(4) McDonalds. Acquaintance of convenience.
(5) Coca Cola. Loyal friend.
(9) Visa. Acquaintance of convenience.
(14) Amazon. Acquaintance of convenience.
(23) Toyota. Loyal friend.
(26) Disney. Religious zealot.
(31) Facebook. Acquaintance of convenience.
(45) Gillette. Loyal friend.
(50) Colgate. Loyal friend.
(56) Nike. Religious zealot.
(81) Chase. Acquaintance of convenience.
(92) Yahoo. Acquaintance of convenience.

A Few Pics From Maddie's Ninth Birthday Party

Party Theme: A Minute To Win It (Maddie's favorite TV show). Here she is playing one of the games.

A Year in Cairo (Heaven on Earth?)

We've been in Cairo for a year. I know, weird. Right? One year in Cairo to recover from one year in Pakistan.

The Pakistan year was hard in surprising ways. It had an echo. One year is enough time to completely reset habits. I was a bachelor returning to a wife and children. I think they call that reverse culture shock. I got mad for totally illogical reasons more than a few times.

But all that is gone. We're settled in nicely. Katie and I just agreed to run the American expat Cub Scouts program in the area next year. I just ordered a scout belt with a really big scout logo belt buckle. Yep. I did that.

We're coaching in all the leagues. Katie is on something like three thousand committees at the school. Thankfully, they all have super brief ALL DAY meetings (!). We're involved and loving it (except did I mention about the ALL DAY meetings?).

My kids grew up this year. Yeah, yeah, they grow up every year. But this is different. They grew up. They're, like, mature and stuff. Maddie still asks for help preparing cold cereal for breakfast (?), but she turned the corner in all kinds of other ways. She gets stuff. Long gone are the days of free-speaking "grown up" conversations in front of the kids. She knows everything that is going on.

Maddie also turned the corner in baseball this week. All at once the rules and the nuance all clicked. She turned to me at practice and said, "Wait, I just have to tag the base because the runner has no where else to go." The game clicked. For the rest of practice, I no longer had to give her any tips about where to stand, where to throw, when to go for the ball versus cover the base. She got it.

Then she asked if she could stay after and throw the ball around with me. Um, that's a yes. I've been waiting nine years for her to ask me that. And she turned the corner in throwing as well. From 30 feet, she was throwing right into my chest, with heat. Afterward, she announced her new goal of playing for BYU's softball team. Like it was Father's Day or something. I have no need of heaven. I've got paradise right here in dirty, dusty, noisy Cairo.

The Comeback

It was a grounder, but it had some zip, and it rolled through the legs of the Dodgers' second baseman. The runner for the Twins saw the error and took a chance rounding first to leg out the double.

The second baseman retrieved the ball and raced to the base, reaching for the runner's outstretched leg. Out!

It was the third and final out of the third inning (7-8 Year-Old Maadi Little League plays three innings per game, with each side of an inning ending after 6 runs or 3 outs) and it earned the Dodgers a dramatic 16-15 victory after trailing most of the game.

Having scored the maximum 6 runs in every inning so far this season, the Dodgers brought just 4 home in the top of the first as the Twins displayed excellent defense. Until the bottom of the third, each team scored the 6 run maximum from that point forward. Thus, the bottom of the third began with the Dodgers holding a 16-12 lead. They could only allow three runs on a day in which their defense had been struggling.

The inning started with a line drive that sailed over the center fielder's head for a triple. The next batter brought him home with a sacrifice single. The Dodgers' prospects were grim.

The defense tightened. The next batter hit a dribbling grounder to the pitcher who made the throw to first for the out. A single. Then a home run. Three runs. Two outs.

The next batter, as described above, ignored the first base coach and stretched for the double. Base running is an overlooked skill. Out. Victory Dodgers.

(Coaching Little League is cool)

Getting Caleb geared up for catcher

Maddie plays third

Tim revels in victory

I Want Him to Be a Man, But I Don't Want Him to Grow Up

It's 6 am. Caleb and I have been up for an hour. During this time, Caleb has described, in exquisite detail, the nuances of Minecraft. His recent pattern is to get up early to finish his homework and have iPad time without sibling interruption or competition.

Last night was baseball practice. While we walked to the field, he held my hand. As we neared the field he said, "I can't hold your hand now because we're at practice." He held my hand again when we walked home. Someday he won't hold my hand at all.

Last week we were on vacation at a place I call Little Des Moines. Others call it The Moon Colony. There is this strange little place in the Nile Delta that has row houses and wide streets and where you say to the kids, "See you later. Come home when you're hungry." And they ride bikes and play all day without supervision. There is a gym. And Caleb decided he wanted to work out with me every day on vacation. Awesome. Me and my buddy rocking the jumping jacks, burpees, medicine ball. What a kid.

I had a tailor come to the house to make me some new suits. Caleb was curious. "Do you want one, buddy?" He did. So now we have matching custom-made Egyptian cotton suits. I feel like we should co-star in a ZZ Top video.

And he says things like this: "Dad, I sure hope you're the scout leader again next year for Wolves."

"I will be."

And he pumps his fists in the air with excitement. That's called ego-satisfaction, my friends. And it's great.

Cool kid.