Hey folks, welcome to another week of Mitch’s Monday Happy Hour!  After 10 days off for the Eid Holiday, today was our first day back to work.  It was a bit difficult to wake up to an alarm clock, but we made it!  It was great to be back to school and hear all of the stories from our friends who traveled around the world, as well as see all of the kiddos!

Here’s what’s up this week:

• Rachel and I love reality TV!  As much as I hate to admit it publicly, one of our favorite shows is Survivor.  Most of you are probably thinking, “What?!? They still make that show?!?”  Yes, yes they do.  Survivor first aired in 2000, and is currently on season #31.  We are “closet fans” meaning that we don’t openly admit it to people we first meet, for fear of embarrassment.  However when we moved here last year, we met another couple that were just as big of fans as us!  We were so excited to receive a piece of tree mail from them last week, inviting us to a Survivor Premiere Party!

  Upon our arrival, we were greeted by other fanatics, and no longer felt like we had to hide our enthusiasm for the show.  One of the party goers even admitted to writing a huge essay in college, regarding the gender roles on the show!  We all demanded a reading next week prior to the new episode.  The party was excellent, we each had our own torches, we wore buffs, and of course there were themed snacks!  At the end of the episode, we held a little “draft” to pick who we think is going to win this season.  It will be fun to meet up weekly with our group to watch each new episode, and to see who’s going to win!

• Baby J is scheduled to join our family at any moment now.  Lately I’ve been busy trying to read as many parenting/baby books as possible, almost as if I were studying for the most important exam in my life!  Some are helpful, some are gruesome, some crazy, but I finally found one that is absolutely hilarious!  My favorite one so far is called, My Boys Can Swim by Ian Davis!  I would literally “laugh out loud” while reading it.  It’s only about 90 pages long, but the author does an excellent job of presenting important information through humor.  I highly recommend it for any soon-to-be dads out there!

• I was reading the online edition of the local newspaper, The Kuwait Times, and stumbled across an article that made me chuckle a bit.

I haven’t had to dig any holes yet since we’ve lived here, and after reading this story, I don’t think I will be anytime soon!

• Back in the United States, we always here the name: John Doe.  He’s a mysterious guy that nobody has ever met, yet we all feel like we know him!  It’s the name that the police use when they have an unidentified suspect, the name people use when they don’t want to reveal their true identity, and it’s the name that credit card companies use for promotional cards.  Last weekend I found out that the John Doe of Kuwait is named Abdullah Ahmed.

• While I was driving the other day, I noticed a goofy piece of equipment.  I took a closer look and realized that it was a “cab less” loader.  I’ve logged plenty of hours operating a loader that you think I should be able to easily identify one, but I thought this one looked so goofy without a cab or even a roll cage!

• Rachel and Baby J are doing great!  Rachel is officially 38 weeks pregnant, and I feel like he could come any day now.  He’s an active lil’ guy and is still gaining weight each week.  The doctor said he seems happy and content inside Rachel’s tummy, and that he isn’t showing signs of leaving anytime soon.  Rachel is doing a phenomenal job of keeping him cozy, as we patiently await his arrival!!!