forgot afterall

Well, I was mentioning Jackson's interest in computers and did not mention how he now wants to build a computer. He wants to be sure he has a good processor and graphics card. He seems to have figured out easy ways to boost RAM. I'm sure he's been researching this already. I told him I saw a catalogue online with quad core (and even six-core) processors, and he was excited. We talked about scavenging parts from old computers, like the case and a DVD-ROM drive. And then he went on to talk about ports and servers and tracking IPs. It's pretty obvious he's been studying up on this (he prefers the video instructions to the written instructions and he also gets information from boys he's in touch with online and from school) and he may be calculating how to save up for the parts, as he has done for some of his software. He's not just playing video games. In fact, I don't think he's doing much real video gaming. He's much more interested in how it works. I am very curious to see how this bug to build develops. I talked to a guy at practice about it, and he said he did it once and thought Jackson would have no problem doing it. (I thought how the boys love to construct these elaborate Lego sets by following the meticulous graphic instructions.) The biggest time spent was gathering the parts, he said, choosing between the options: there's always something a bit better (and more expensive) to get. The dad also mentioned that he inserts all his old hard drives into his new desk top so he always has access to the old picture files. A great idea, and seemed so obvious once he said it. He also loved loading the new operating system without all the add-ons you don't want and don't use. You start with a clean slate. Or a blank screen.

Jackson's second baseball game was brutally cold. Jackson played first base and several outs were made there. He also pitched again. His first inning went good. One hit. No walks. A nice play where he fielded the ball and threw to first. He got into a bit of a jam in his second inning as a couple of hitters found the gap between first and second, and he got down on himself after the game. Comparatively, he did great! The coach likes to give him bunt signals and he laid down two that went along the third base line and then foul. He got on base a couple of times and scored a couple of times. Fun to watch him off the base, teasing the catcher to throw.

He had lots of homework to do after the game. He's working on a couple of projects.

Ry's had an earache for a few days. His second game the day after Jack's was still cold and windy but not nearly as bad as the evening before. Rylee played first again and got on base a couple of times. The boys on  his team are getting better but it's still hard for them to throw the ball to first. The innings go by fast, since there are many strike outs--all swinging at this level--off the pitching machine. One of his teammates caught a big pop fly into left field.

Ry finished his first enrichment essay on future inventions, and he said he was going to ask his teacher if he could draw some pictures about what he wrote about.

Saturday more games.We got the scoreboard working at the minor field. I missed most of Jackson's because Ry's started shortly after it started, and it was my day to ump again. I did see Jackson lead off at bat, and, as I predicted, the coach signaled for a bunt. He laid one down perfectly on the first pitch and ran faster to first than I've ever seen him. Ry was at first again. I could watch from behind the plate. Midway through the game, a parent was being a jerk in the stands. The field ump called a ball foul as it sailed out of bounds just before first base. As a volunteer parent ump, it bugged me when I heard him the second time. I told the parent he was not there to make the call and that seemed to quiet him. The boys did great, and you can see the progress already in the team play. Ry is hitting better and running faster, and Jackson is becoming very good at bunts and cracking the ball, too. Jackson concentrates on shielding the sun. Those early and late games can be tricky. They both hustle. Jackson gets down on himself, like he did Monday when both boys had practice in the evening, but in Monday's case I think it was mostly because he was hungry and thirsty and just ran out of gas in the last minutes of a hard two-hour practice. The boys and I stopped off at the supermarket on the way home and we talked a lot about shaking it off and moving on. The talk and the chocolate milk we got from the refrigerated case revived him and he was happy again. We talked to the butcher and he gave us a break on the hamburger, so we bought twice as much. We managed to get a bunch of food for $13! It was a late dinner, and the boys almost nodded off at the table.