Looks like the doom-and-gloom predictions for Hurricane Ike were issued to early… it’s turned West and will most likely miss Miami and head into the Gulf. Another close call but we’re OK down here!

So my new school has a varsity football team.

This may not seem like a big deal but, you need to understand that it’s a private Jewish school… and Jews are not know for football. This is the team’s first season and nobody expects superstardom from them, but they’ve been working hard and, although I have just met the kids, I really am proud of how hard they are working and I wish them the best.

They lost their first game last week, 18-0 (I couldn’t attend) and, last night, I headed north to watch them play their second game. I arrived about four minutes in to the first quarter and the opposing team had just scored their second touchdown. They failed to convert on either extra-point attempt so, as I took my seat, my boys were down, 12-0.

They returned the kick-off well and, from the first play I saw, I was riveted. I’ve never watched much live football – and never high school – so I found every facet of the game interesting. I won’t bore you by recounting the game, which was a rout, but I will spend time on one particular drive: late in the fourth, the boys returned another kick-off beautifully and, despite being set back a considerable distance due to a clipping penalty, they still had good field position, starting just shy of the 50-yard line. If I am remembering correctly, the boys earned two first downs on the drive, picking up yards on nice pass plays out to the flats (reminiscent of the routes that made Tony Gonzalez famous) as well as a couple of nice pass plays up the middle and a short run or two. They wound up with 1st and goal on the 9-yard line and just couldn’t put the ball into the end zone. It was the highlight of the game as far as I’m concerned.

The most fun was watching the few fans who had made the hour-long trip out to cheer the boys on. Football is a game watched from a considerable distance and, without the assistance of analysts and instant-replay, the distractions of friends, texts and concession stands can prove to be too much for most student-fans to ignore. But, for the most part, everyone seated near me stayed focused on the on-field action… it was tons of fun and, at the final horn, I felt admiration for how hard the boys on the team have worked.

It reminded me how important sport is to a young man’s development and I’m going to do my best to get back and watch them again. And, I’m not going to support them… I’m going for selfish reasons, really: I like what watching them does for me.

Go ‘Canes!

15 minutes + 18 dollars = dinner for Abba and the kids while Mommy is at a meeting. Living in a large Jewish community has its perks.

Hello, Gustav. It seems that, as an additional welcome to South Florida, we’re going to get hit by Tropical Storm Gustav, which should get to us by the middle of next week. Fun, fun, fun.

I have this photo so I figured I would post it. Plus, it served as an impetus to get back to the keyboard and keep writing. That’s us on the front porch of the house we’re renting in Hollywood. In case you can’t tell it’s yellow. Really. Yellow.

We’re happy here and we’re finally getting out from under the move. We’re about 75% of the way unpacked, we’re learning our way around the neighborhood, we’ve made some friends in the shul, the kids and I have been to school for a week and, so far, the tropical storms and hurricanes have been mild. (No, I’m not kidding.)

Today is Sunday – our second here that was not Tisha B’Av – and we had a nice, relaxed afternoon. We spent the morning in the pool then went out to lunch at one of the thousands of Israeli-owned felafel places in the area. We then headed out to Dania Beach to let the kids walk in the Atlantic since we realized that we had lived here for three weeks and they still hadn’t seen the ocean.

We returned, tired and sandy, back to the house for an evening of laundry, homework and tuna noodle casserole. Normal.

Tomorrow is back to school for what we hope will be a complete week of classes. Real life is happening and, after the summer and the move, I’m looking forward to it.

A former colleague of mine keeps a blog and her dedication to keeping up with it used to depress me when I considered my own lack of regular updates. But, she’s the kind of person who would tell me that I’m being silly. So, instead of being depressed by my lack or productivity, I’ve decided to be inspired by her evidence of it. Long story short: I’m going to try to update the blog more often.

I’m getting settled in in my new school, getting used to the kids, the culture, the city and the weather. It rains in Florida. Every. Day. Whenever I ask a local when that’s going to stop, they just laugh at me. That’s never a good sign.

The school here is much bigger than my last one, which impacts my life in lots of different ways. Back in Kansas, I knew the name of every student in the Middle and Upper Schools… here, I’m not going to know the names of every member of the faculty!

I should be working now, but the blog gave me an opportunity to try out the PCs here in the fancy-shmancy teachers’ lounge. It’s nice, and they work fine. Plus, I’m pleasantly surprised to see that my WordPress installation works great from behind the firewall. So, life is good.

More later – I promise, MT!

The ComCast guy came today!

I still can’t find my AirPort Extreme Base Station, but, for now, the iMac is online via Ethernet and is sharing its connection via wifi with my MacBook. I guess one of the upsides to a smaller house is good wifi reception in every room.

So we’ve arrived in Miami.

The final day of driving was, for the most part, uneventful. However, when you look back on the entire trip, the distance we have come is impressive (at least, I think it is):

It’s a distance of 1,500 miles, which is exactly half of the Cannonball Run ,and which we accomplished in only four days, thanks to my parents’ generous assistance with the driving. I know that some fun stuff happened along the way but, honestly, right now, its all a blur. The important thing is that, tomorrow, our PackRats arrive and we move into the new house, which is even more yellow than I remember.

I haven’t stayed on top of posting, so this one is a little late, but it’s 10:30 at night at we’re getting settled in to our hotel room in Gainesville. We’re on schedule and should read Fort Lauderdale tomorrow night… but we’re officially in Florida!

We’re loading the cars now and will soon be on the road, headed out for Day 1 of our journey to Florida. We are going to St. Louis to pick up Hillel from Summer Camp and then hit the road for reals, hoping to get all the way to Chattanooga before stopping for the night.

Of course, we are supposed to leave in 15 minutes, and that’s not going to happen, so the plan is a work on progress. Here’s hopin’!