April 2006: Chronologically
Saturday, April 1st As
reported last month, April began with a wonderful overnight
retreat at Jack and Deb Talley's retreat Chalet near Cle Elum.
The Saturday Morning men woke to snow on April Fools day.
Everything about the event -- location, facilities, food,
fellowship and the program surpassed expectations.
 Saturday,
April 8th Nancy and Annie had gone to the Seattle
Shakespeare Company production of Cyrano de Bergerac on
Thursday night. Nancy insisted I take her and the other
kids to the final performance on Saturday. Even though I
knew the plot (and liked it) I was not prepared for the
emotional tug it had on me. I should have known I would
identify with the gallant lover Cyrano, who was condemned to
love so long , so deeply, so near to his beloved, yet never able
to express that reality to Roxanne. Perhaps every man can
identify with Cyrano -- every man who has really loved.
But my tears at the close of the play were for the great man,
not the great romance that could not be. Cyrano had
finished so well.
Monday, April 10th - Friday April 14th I had to
stop downtown at the King County Administration Building to get
a two day "transit pass" so Nancy could drive the van to get the
emission test done on it. She'd forgotten to renew the
license tabs last month. But she made up for it by getting
the taxes done and submitted by the 14th.
 We
have our summer vacation plans all made. Once again
Grandma Ginger will take the family on a cruise. This time
to Alaska -- the trip I have wanted to take for many years. We
will go the week of July 9th-15th.
Sunday, April 16th - Easter Sunday Full of Traditions
 Annie took the van and
five "U Scholars" on a retreat so we borrowed Grandma Ginger's
car for the Easter weekend. Sunrise service at the
Bellevue Downtown Park at 6:30AM was followed by the service at
UPC at 8:45AM. Easter egg hunting (all found this
year) and ham dinner at Susan's house. I filled in for
absent Annie as a hunter instead of the hider this year.
Monday, April 17th Another Addicting Use for
Technology: Online Stock Trading
To wrap up the tax
season, Nancy opened accounts for Annie, Nancy and me at
Scottrade.
So no longer can I just ignore my investments and hope my broker
at Smith Barney is on the job. It is interesting to
consider what stocks I first bought on my own. Is my B.A.
in Economics worth anything? I primarily took into account
the huge hike in the price of gasoline this month and bought two
unique stocks. (I paid $3.009/gal on April 30th.)
My first trade was to buy 100
shares of
Headwaters Inc.
(HW). This Utah company specializes in alternative energy mostly
related to coal. My second trade was for 100 shares
of
Distributed Energy Systems Corp
(DESC) a mid-cap alternative energy company with subsidiaries in
both wind power and hydrogen gas production. As the gas
price goes up (and it will with Middle East unrest on the rise),
I've invested to expect these two stocks to outperform the
market.
I didn't agree with Nancy's choice
of Southwest Airlines (LUV) since it is so dependent on jet
fuel. We'll see who is the better stock picker in a while.
Tuesday, April 18th / Morning Dentist & Evening Dessert
The word from Dr.
Duyzend
was again not good. I'll be
back visiting him in May, as will Nancy.
The annual SBE New Major's
Dessert event went especially well this year. I gave the
invocation, ran the lights, video projector, PowerPoint, and
video taped the Dean's speech. This event with always
keeps me busy.
______________
Bits and Pieces
- I sit at 200 pounds at the
close of April. My mental picture of myself is as the
thin man I once was. When I look in the mirror I don't
see the profile that appears in videos and photographs.
May is yet another chance to try, try again. If
I am going to run with Jeannie in July and August I just
must get back on the discipline wagon.
- Jeannie was accepted to BCS
for 8th grade next year. Nancy was very anxious about
this since we'd had such a disappointing experience getting
Nathanael admitted. I was not anxious at all since
Jeannie clearly has a wonderful academic record at Chinook.
(Although we decided to hold Nate back a year and start him
at Chinook, looking back, it was a very good decision.)
|
Thursday, April 20th - Saturday, April 22nd
Nathanael did not excel at the Lake Washington HS meet on
Thursday night but he came back and won "Athlete of the Meet"
honors for his performance at the King's Invitational on
Saturday. This picture shows him beating teammate Josh Smit in the Freshman/ Sophomore 1600m (mile) run. He took
1st place and Josh took 2nd. Nate got a tee-shirt, spike
bag and gold medal. One does not often stand on the top of
the podium in Track & Field.
I did my service at both meets as
team photographer. The
coach even sent home a team tee-shirt to say thanks.
We
had to leave Nathanael behind to run in the 4x400m relay.
Nancy, Jeannie and I enjoyed a unique performance of
Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at SPU. They set
the scene in the San Juan Islands and added some especially
humorous Northwest songs. But he actual spoken parts were
pure Shakespeare.
On Tuesday the 25th, Nate won the 800m at the Lynden Christian
Invitational. He continues to set PRs (personal records).
 Thursday,
April 27th I find myself doing more photography.
Having the tools and the interest has led to more applications.
I've been taking faculty portraits on top of my sports shots.
Nancy even volunteered me to take promotional pictures for the
Chinook musical of Annie next month. So, I
purchased a telephoto lens on eBay and a low-light portrait lens
from buydig.com.
 I
have been borrowing a Nikon AF Nikkor 70-300mm lens from Coach
Larry Royce. It worked so well with my Nikon D70 camera
that I got one for myself for only $91 on eBay. I
convinced myself I needed the small portrait lens because it
comes so well recommend as a low light lens.
Reading in April
The Saturday Men's Bible Study finished 1st Peter in April and
will be in the Psalms starting at Psalm 10 in May.
 This
month I read The Scarlet Pimpernel. I
enjoyed the first half but tired of it in the end. It
turned out to be a romance novel instead of an adventure novel.
It was a rare exception to the rule that the book is always
better than the movie. The plot thinned to a single
repeated note.
 More
enjoyable was the juvenile science fiction book Space Cadet
by Robert Heinlein I read. I must have read it as a boy.
It is the type of Heinlein book that I devoured and that shaped
my moral makeup when I was a teen. It is quite dated as an
SF book. (The first landing on Venus was said to have happened
in 1971! And smoking was still common and slide rules were still
in use.) Written in 1948 and set in 2075, it told of the
training of young space officers. Like so many of Heinlein's
books, the story line is fast paced, full of both adventure and
humor, yet always full of the timeless political and social
philosophy of the author. |
