The Journal of Dr. Richard L. Sleight

AUGUST 2005 EDITION 

Weight change in August, 196.5 to 192

Week 1:  Along with the usual driving the kids here and there, and doing a few web projects for SBE, the first week of my vacation looked like many other weeks this summer.  I did manage to make it to one of the BCS Cross Country team practices and take pictures.  And, alas, Nathanael and I assembled his new computer ― and promptly blew it up.  At least Jeannie and Nate saw some smoke and I certainly smelled burnt plastic.  I took it to work to have my assistant do a proper post mortem.  Ashish Singh and I will bring it back to life there once a new motherboard arrives.  I also managed to clean my basement office, a significant task.  Now there is room to work and we can play Foosball again.  Finally, I was able to produce three DVDs of Lance and Debbie's wedding in June.

Week 2:  More driving the kids, more little jobs for SBE.  At least I can count one day at home as a work day.   The weather cooled a bit and I was able to attack the sick Mountain Ash and Madrona trees just south of the deck that Nancy had long wanted removed.  I managed also to survive a near fall off the ladder (click for larger picture).  My fall off a chair watching TV later that day was much more spectacular and painful.  I think I pulled something.

I did have one success with computers, resurrecting an old PC I'd brought home from the office.  It now is my main machine at 1228 99th.   Perhaps the single most significant result of this time off is that I'm really looking forward to getting back to work!

Vancouver, B.C. for Nancy's 50th
 
My Mom and Dad took a cruise to Alaska this month and had asked me to pick them up in Vancouver on Monday, August 22nd.  What a great opportunity to have an extended date with Nancy while Annie played "Junior Assistant Mom" at home.  So Saturday morning Nancy and I drove my Dad's Honda Accord up to Vancouver.  I had made reservations at a modest but convenient Ramada Inn just south of False Creek. It did have a great view from our 5th floor room.
   We had the best three days we've had in many, many years.

Time does not permit telling all the stories, like how Nancy ran back to retrieve my Nikon lens cap from the Mexican restaurant at the Canadian Border while I was stuck in the line that goes through Customs into Canada.  The line was long and slow and Nancy was thankfully quick and successful. 

On Saturday we spent the afternoon at Queen Elizabeth Park.  I had chosen our hotel with this stop in mind.  It is not unlike Butchart Gardens in Victoria and was also full of East Asian and South Asian wedding parties taking pictures in this beautiful setting.  Nancy was especially delighted with the combination of flowers, brides, and sunshine.  That night we enjoyed the 40 item menu at the New India Buffet & Restaurant. We'd wanted to try East Indian and when we looked in the phonebook, we found it -- across the street from our hotel!!!

Sunday (Nancy's birthday) we caught a sermon on TV on discouragement by Charles Stanley -- something we both needed (see story about Annie's Scholarships at right.)  That, plus my reading from Ecclesiastes and Proverbs, was our Church service.

That afternoon, we made the one shopping trip I had hoped for, at Hill's Native Art in the Gastown district -- three floors of the art I still love. Nancy let me buy a signed and numbered print titled "Steelhead Moon" by Salish artist Carl Stromquist (working in a Haida style) .  It is 24"x22" and is destined for my office wall after I get it framed by Don and Judy. My office has become something of an art gallery in itself.  (Click on any of these images that show a hand icon when you mouse over them to enlarge them.)

Later I drove Nancy around Vancouver's downtown and all around and through Stanley Park.   Nancy especially enjoyed a simple walk on the beach around 6:00PM near the UBC campus. Dinner that night was Chinese, Nancy's favorite.  We made perfect connections at the Vancouver International Airport on Monday Morning.  It was a weekend to remember.

Annie and Susan with GHO in Honduras
 

Annie mostly worked with the Children's Ministry Team and visited schools and daycare centers. Two days they were with the children of parents who had come to the medical clinic.  She really got to use her Spanish! She took over 1000 pictures and is thankful for her new camera, "the right graduation gift."  

The team of doctors and nurses that Susan worked on saw over 1,600 patients in just 4.5 days.  The team really bonded and there were many tears when they had to come home.

Anger and Distress with My Employer
 
Three times in 17 years I have found cause to be very angry or discouraged by the SPU administration.  First was being downsized in 1991, one of 30 Professional Staff members just before Christmas.  That was a big case of bad management in my opinion, but I landed on my feet in SBE and it turned out for the best for me in the end. Second was not being able to defend myself against false statements made by a Dean from another school in 1994. (In hindsight, I know now how I could have easily handled that issue -- by dealing quickly and directly instead of though my own ineffective Dean.)

But now my family and I are involved in another crisis at SPU.  You may recall that Annie maxed out on wonderful scholarships.  Well, this year the SPU administration chose to redefine its policy on how dependants of employees may use these scholarships.  They insist that they be limited to tuition costs alone.  Annie is required now to pay for books, fees, and especially room and board in the dorm.  Although these policy changes went into effect July 1st, Annie accepted SPU's offer of admission on March 17th.  We will dispute the new policy vigorously.  We believe my employment contract and Annie's dealings with SPU should not be tied where her scholarships are concerned.  She accepted their admission offer well before the new rules were announced.  They have broken their promises to her and to other students. We will work and pray for justice.

School of Business and Economics Changes
 
You win some, you lose some.  Dr. Nancy Christie who joined SBE two years ago has resigned and will teach at Western Washington University this year.  She was easy to work with, though not a gifted teacher.  It is difficult for us to continue with a single tenured Accounting professor. But she wanted to be with her husband who works in Bellingham.  Finding Christian accountants with Ph.D.s has been a daunting task.

We have hired lawyer Grant Learned, who, on the other hand, is a very gifted instructor in both Finance and Business Law.  He is a wonderful addition to SBE.

Staff member Nathan Pritchard resigned in June as Director of our Center for Professional Development (CPD). He will take his MBA earned with us into the corporate world at biotechnology firm ZymoGenetics.  Alas, the CPD branch of our operation has been forced into mothballs. 

Ruth Myers, assistant to all four of our Deans, will retire at the end of September.  She has been the SBE "mom."  A bit challenged by technology but loyal and efficient.  Her last month here is marked by ill health.  She poured herself into SBE and parting is hard for her.  But she and her loving husband Dr. Ray Myers (SPU School of Education) will return to their old home in Greenville, Illinois.

Ruth's replacement will be Lindsey Peterson, currently the "Payroll Lead" at SPU and an MBA student.  She'll come on board in mid-September.

All's Well That Ends Well
 
At least one more thing went right in August.  The computer Nathanael and I fried (it was probably mostly my fault after all) is now running nicely, thanks to my lab assistant Ashish Singh (and $150 for a new motherboard, CPU and power supply). I also decided to buy him the used 15" LCD monitor in the picture below.  The case shows its clear plastic side and the blue glow of the fan lights and other lights.  It is a nice system with 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard disk drive.  Nathanael can even watch DVDs on it.  He loves it and, of course, there is no secret that I am trying to encourage his interest in computers -- just the thing for our science boy.

• I learned on the 24th that I will be teaching another BUS 2700 Statistics for Business and Economics section this coming autumn.  Dr. Chuck Burris from the Math Department has suffered a severe mental illness that began in the spring.  I may even offer to take on his spring 2006 CSC 1226 Presentation Managers class. He is not expected back at SPU.  It will be an incredibly busy school year for me (again).  I am now scheduled to teach nine sections, two of BUS 2700 and seven of BUS 1700.
• We learned on August 29th that our family friend and long time UPC Children's Sunday School teacher Delmer Owen is being moved from Swedish Hospital to a hospice facility.  The doctors have ceased treating his ailments and are simply managing his comfort.  His new pacemaker only kept him going this extra month.  The "library" room we thought to prepare for him to let him perhaps stay with us until he was ready to go home, has been changed to a study room for Nathanael.  Instead of going home, it looks like Delmer, 87 this coming November, will instead be Going Home.
• Also at the end of the month I ended our long association with Seanet.com as our ISP.  Our new ISP, at half the monthly rate (now down to $8.95/mo.) is ISP.com.