Day 65 - 04/26/2007

It's the official "Take Your Daughters (and Sons) to Work Day" day. Seeing as M is only 8 and pretty much all I do is sit at my computer all day (actually doing work, not just sitting there), I didn't think it was necessary to take her there for the full day. With that in mind, I picked her up from school at 11a and brought her back to the office. After an hour or so of introducing her to my co-workers, we sat in my office and I tried to explain to her what a database was (as that's what I was troubleshooting at the time), but am not sure whether I was successful or not, M was more intrigued with trying to solve the golf puzzle I keep on my desk vs. what her father does. Oh well, I had anticipated this, which is why I only brought her in for a few hours.

Since it was almost lunch time (and we were getting hungry from all the hard er um work we were doing), we headed out for a bite to eat. M wanted to go to McDonald's or KFC or Popeyes; I had other plans. Out of the suggestions I offered (sushi, Indian, Thai or pho), she chose pho, but only because I described it as noodle soup. When she responded that she likes chicken noodle soup, I 'fessed up that this wasn't like the chicken noodle soup she was used to, but more like the ramen noodles she likes.

"Uh, can we go to McDonald's drive-thru instead?" she said when I told her what pho was.

"Uh....no."

I can't recall the last time I ate fast food for lunch (there were times long ago when I'd break down and get a Wendy's #3 [Spicy Chicken sandwich w/ mustard] or a trio of tacos from Taco Bell, but those days are long gone). I guess the closest I come now to eating that would be when I hit Baja Fresh for their fish tacos. Mmmmmmmmmmm, I love their fish tacos. They are muy delicioso!

So, with that in mind, I decided to compromise and we decided to go to Teocalli Tamale. It's not the closest place to eat, and the ambiance isn't all that great, but the tamales are top notch (their fish tacos, eh, not so much).

Anyway, we ate lunch, although M didn't eat much, except for chips and guacamole. She (like me) loves the guac. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

After lunch, I took her back to school for the remainder of the day and I headed back to my office to continue investigating the database issues I've been encountering.

I took off from work to get home, eat dinner (fruit salad and cheese, as I was still full from lunch) and get to N's practice. Tonight's practice was trying. Mike (the head coach) wasn't there and it was up to me to run it. Rick, Tai and Mike were there to help, but even with the four of us, the kids weren't paying attention and were often lost in their own worlds. One of the kids has no attention span. As soon as you tell him to do something (or not to do something), he goes back to what he was doing, oblivious to what you just told him. If he starts interacting with other players, they get distracted and next thing you know, none of the kids are paying attention. He's also wont to get physical with the other players when going for a ball (e.g., tackle them) and won't stop. At one point he shoved one of the other kids, I took him aside and told him we were all on the same team and there wasn't to be any shoving, hitting or kicking between teammates (or in baseball in general). As I returned to the position I was shadowing, he started mumbling something under his breath. I caught his attention when I stopped in my tracks, turned around and looked him square in the eye, gave him my "don't mess with me look" and asked him "Is there something you want to share with me?"

His eyes grew to be the size of saucers and he stopped cold in his tracks.

"Because if there is, say it out loud so I can hear it. If not, keep it to yourself."

Is this what it's come to? Trying to instill discipline and respect to other people's kids? (This is the same kid who went on a sit-down strike during the game last week when he was playing pitcher. His mom gave him what for after the game, but I don't think it was enough to sink in and change his attitude.) After practice, I spoke with another coach about him (he had noticed his behavior as well and was the one to bring it up). He was under the same impression I was with regard to having to discipline other kids. He hadn't intended on having to take on that task, but he wasn't afraid of doing it. We'll see what happens at Saturday's game; hopefully his mom (who was at practice) gave him a bit of advice on the way home and it will finally sink in.

Somehow, I doubt it.