|
|
The Journal of Dr. Richard L.
Sleight |
MARCH
2008 EDITION |
Weight change in
March, 196 to 198 |
 
Hanging in There . . .
Dad
returned from his series of vacations (finishing in Hawaii) and
visited Jean after her operation. At the end of March his health
seems more fragile than mom's. He was taking antibiotics
for a bad cough and they were giving him diarrhea.
Except for the
occasional itch, mom seems to be doing better every day.
The pacemaker has had one important benefit. She doesn't cry out
in pain for her "broken" big toe on her right foot. It
never was broken but her bad circulation from a weak heart and
her diabetes made it ache. But no more! |
|
  Annie
Flies to Great Britain
On
Tuesday, March 25th, Annie flew with her SPU classmates to
England for British Isles Quarter.
Her early reports
(in
her new blog) from Edinburgh sound like she's having the
time of her life. She returns to us at the end of May.
Her email is
togivegrace@gmail.com. Her journal
entries can be found at
theannalsofgrace.blogspot.com. |
 Jeff
Lantrip Turns 50
Eight years
ago my
good friend Jeff Lantrip got married. Soon after
that I lost touch with him when his email changed. But
this month his wife Carrie called to invite us to his
50th birthday at the Cheesecake Factory at Southcenter.
We dropped Annie off at SeaTac and were
conveniently close.
A big
crowd was on hand to celebrate with Jeff and Carrie.
They live in Enumclaw and Jeff still works at Boeing.
But the big news is that they've added five boys to
their family
of three. (Daughter
 Angela is
Nathanael's
age.)
Time and
the big group of other friends did
not allow us to spend much time with them -- but we were
able to use one of the Cheesecake Factory gift cards
that the Track team got us last year! Jeff looked
fit
and little changed except for some gray in the
beard. We look forward to catching up with the Lantrip
family.
|
 
Nate and Jean Team Up for another
Trip to State!
As the plaque
shows, our kids won 2nd place in the
Washington
State Mathematics Council "2008 Regionals." Their third
teammate is Sophomore Quincy Wu. They will compete
at the State Championships in Yakima on April 26th. |
 
More Pics
of Mom
She's not
ready to move home but Jean is so much improved.
We were
delighted to learn that Laurie will fly here for two
weeks in May to help Jean -- and to give Nancy a much
needed break!
|
|
The Investment
in Nikon is Paying Off --
At Least in Great Photographs
My
first efforts at shooting runners with my new D300 and
80-200 lens (right) was a disaster. The focus
setup was all wrong. Fortunately I was at practice
not a meet. So I searched at Nikonians.com and found the
perfect online tutor
http://www.nikondigitutor.com/eng/d300/ (below)
It provides video tutorials on exactly what I needed.
Since then my shots have been great. And with the
ability to shoot 6 frames per second, I shoot a lot more
pictures and thus have more to pick from to find the
gems. The online versions are cropped, resized,
and compressed -- but they still look good. Here
are a few.
Terra (hurdles)
Nate (relay)
Girls (#1 relay)
Camera
speed has made animations like these possible:
High Jump
Steeplechase
Javelin
|
 |
|
  BCS
Track & Field in March
March has been a cold and
rainy one for Track & Field. The fourth meet of
the month was actually cancelled due to snow on March
28th! Nate's running has been inconsistent.
He's had his share of victories but his times are still
not yet competitive.
Jeannie
thought to drop Track but her smaller part in the spring
musical got her to reconsider. She was out sick
with a temperature most of the last week of March but will run in April.
◄ Nate
won the 800m at Curtis High School in University Place
near Tacoma.
At the
SAAS Relays, his BCS co-ed
►
Distance Medley Relay team gave him such a big lead that
his anchor leg 1600m earned an easy team victory.
|
Arthur C. Clarke
(1917-2008)
Sir
Arthur Clarke was no friend of the Christian faith.
His many books collectively taught against salvation
by faith while still revealing an understanding of
the Christian story. Salvation might come from
elsewhere in this universe but not from beyond it.
Actually, in this, Clarke was in common cause with
the great majority of authors in this genre that was
once my favorite. No wonder my reading habits
have changed as I've gotten older.
I
enjoyed those books of his that I read. But,
surprisingly, I read very few. Early I read
Rendezvous with Rama and its sequel and others
and more recently Songs of Distant Earth.
But the tales of Heinlein and Asimov held my
attention better and told of more exciting, complex, and hopeful futures.
|
Science fiction writer, Arthur C. Clarke,
poses at his home in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in this May 9, 2007. Clarke, the author of more than 100 books, including
'2001: A Space Odyssey', died early Wednesday, March 19, 2008
after suffering from breathing problems. He was 90. |
|
|
|
Susan Invites Us to ADF
Banquet
Susan
Rutherford has been a longtime supporter of the
Alliance
Defense Fund. In brief, it is a Christian umbrella
organization which stands opposed to organizations like the
ACLU and the
People for the American Way
and the Americans United for
Separation of Church and State.
The March 27th banquet
at the Grand Hyatt hotel downtown was more than informative.
It was inspiring. I came away thinking, what am I doing
with my Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies? It was a wake
up call.
Bits and Pieces
- The Saturday
Men are in Luke 4 at the end of March. And, beginning
in April, we move to S-223 in the Sanctuary building.
We will miss the comfortable Chapel Lounge., but
that building is being rebuilt.
- I've
begun printing Track & Field photos on plain paper and
posting then in the BCS Greene Commons. This will be
easier and cheaper and will still promote the team well.
My February Quote
Poetry on Busses 2007
(King County Metro)
Old Bones
He
eased his ninety year old bones
Under
the quilt, forgave the cane waiting by the bed
Free
at last.
The
moonlight fell against his closed lids
Like
sunlight, as he drifted off, and
He
was walking,
He
was running,
He
was late for school.
by Laurie Sutherland
Back at Sea in March
- But on the Yankee Side this Time
"This
nautical adventure, the first in a series, takes place during
the American Revolution as Richard Cutler, a young rebel, signs
on as a midshipman aboard the Ranger, a Continental navy
sloop-of-war captained by John Paul Jones. Cutler wants
independence for his country, and revenge for his older brother,
Will, flogged to death by the Royal Navy. Serving alongside
Jones on the Ranger and later the Bonhomme Richard,
Cutler fights in spectacular sea battles, and through his
travels, meets many of the key characters in the Revolution
including Ben Franklin, the Marquis de Lafayette and John
Adams."
-- from Amazon.com
The tag line
at the top of the hardcover jacket says "Bill Hammond is the
next Patrick O'Brian!" It ain't true. Hammond is
historically accurate in this story of Midshipman Richard Cutler
of Massachusetts on the ships and under the mentorship of Capt.
John Paul Jones. The writing is clear and sufficiently
nautical to hold my attention. (The few romantic
interludes reveal deep passions, but they do not find their way
into print, but surely lodge in the readers imagination.)
Either I've
read too much in this genre or I've figured out the writer's
methods. When very minor characters suddenly get a few
paragraphs of favorable description, it's a tip off that they
will catch an enemy cannon ball in the next sea battle. In
O'Brian's stories, death came unexpectedly (as in real life).
Still, the hero Richard Cutler is a young Hornbloweresque hero,
and the exploits of the Scot turned American patriot John Paul
Jones make this novel well worth the bus time.
|
[ BACK
] |
|
