Running Again

Jeannie Beth is running third of the four BCS Junior High girls.  But she is running in the top third of the league and is improving greatly.  She readily admits she really didn't train in the summer. 

The BCS girls Varsity team has only four athletes.  They are a very strong team, but will not go to State as a team without a fifth girl. Two of them are sure to qualify as individuals. They are three sophomores and a freshman and Jeannie will help them make a full team next season.

At Lincoln Park and again at Lower Woodland Park, Nathanael ran third in large Emerald City League meets with 60+ runners.  He led the latter race for the first mile.  He has only been beaten by Oliver Wood of The Bush School and young Alex Johnson of Seattle Academy.  Alex was on the 1A State Champion team last year but too many on that team were seniors and they will not repeat in 2006. 

What I fear are the many former 2A schools which are being moved down to the 1A level this year.  Being the top team in the Emerald City League, as BCS clearly is this year, will not guarantee a repeat trip to Pasco in November.  (After writing that last bit, I've learned of "political" differences among the three districts which have derailed the "Tri-District" race planed for late October. If District 2 goes its own way with a championship race of its own, this year anyway, BCS will greatly improve their chances of a return trip to Pasco.)     

I've been happily surprised by the improvement of the younger BCS runners this year.  The team is balanced with two seniors (Luke Bergman and Charles Blum, whose father Bill is one of my best Presbyterian friends), two juniors (Nathanael and last year's #2 runner Martin Geier), three sophomores (Kyle Fremd and Andrew Van Ness who were the team's two alternates at State last year, and Steve Koster who's big brother ran 3rd last year), and freshman tiny Jon Fouquier who ran so well as an 8th grader last year.  A few more runners round out the Junior Varsity but the team is quite small compared with prior years.  It turns out that although Nathanael is a junior, he is the oldest guy on the team.      (Click on the images to enlarge them.)

Nathanael's times in September:  Winning time over these 3.1 mile courses.
Lincoln Park, Sept. 12 - 18:21 (3rd) / 18:04  His first 3.1 mile of the season, finishing 3rd, 17 seconds back.
Lower Woodland Park, Sept. 19 - 17:56 (3rd) / 17:10   Improving and still third in his league but 46 seconds off the lead.
Oak Harbor Invitational, Sept. 23 - 17:40 (16th) / 16:14  Still faster in this race with stronger 2A, 3A, and 4A teams. BCS took 6th in a field of 11 schools, beaten only by by these bigger schools: Oak Harbor, Cascade, Ballard, Port Angeles, and my old nemesis Nathan Hale.

He has four races in October and if all goes according to plan, a bonus race at State in November.
 

Nathanael's great finishing sprint was really needed at the Oak Harbor Invitational.  My camera was right on the finish line.

At the Junior High version of the Turtle Soup Relays held at Kelsey Creek Park the last week in September, Jeannie did not have runners to pace off of so she ran a slower time -- but enjoyed it much more!

I can't say much about teaching because I've only been at it for one week in September.  It was nice to at least begin a term quite prepared.  All of my homework assignments are ready to go and the 27 page course packet was handed out in the first class.  I have three sections of BUS 1700 Spreadsheets this quarter -- all on Tuesdays.  Annie is taking my 10:30AM section.  Now that's interesting.  I get nearly instant feedback.

On Saturday, September 30th, I completed the recording of a completely online lesson on the topic of "Creating Mailing Labels" with Excel data in Microsoft Word.  I used Macromedia's Captivate software.  I could work myself out of a job doing this.

Exodus

Phil Voigt took the Men's Bible class for one Saturday so I could go to Oak Harbor.  But he called on the 29th to ask me to run the show again on the 30th.  He is again unstable and his chemotherapy is, as expected, giving him trouble. 

We have made it to Exodus 5:22 in four Saturdays of study.

Imagine your boss walking into your office two weeks before the new term and asking you if you could teach a new 5-credit course you've never taught before.  The theme of the course was "Remember the Poor: Poverty in America."  I was gratified that Jeff Van Duzer would consider me (well I do have one degree in Economics) and I was even more gratified when it was decided later to fold this section into another.  I was off the hook, but not until after two days of cramming on the issue of poverty.

This offer came about because one of our best teachers, Dr. Lisa Surdyk has been diagnosed with colon cancer.  She had surgery but the cancer is very advanced.  This is devastating to SBE.  Lisa joined the SPU faculty in 1991.  She had been an undergraduate in our Economics program and earned her Ph.D. at a very young age at the UW.  While a TA at the UW, she met Tim Surdyk and they married about the time she joined our faculty.  They are the parents now of four young children. 
 

Timothy Albert Ellis (our grand nephew)

Born: Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2006; 4:52 p.m.  Weight: 8 lbs 5 oz   Length: 21 3/4 inches  Delivered by C-section.

As expected, Debbie delivered in September.  Everyone was relieved and delighted.  Nancy and the kids visited Timothy and his parents at Evergreen Hospital on the day he came home. 
I of course put up a web page of baby pictures for them.

The Navy in the Civil War
 
Nathanael has not yet pinned down his term paper topic in his big 11th grade History/English project. But the SPU library has produced wonderful resources including first person accounts and a number of 19th century sources.  I can only help him so much.  While other students use the UW library and have to read and make photo copies there, I can check out all the books he could possibly need.  This is yet another perquisite of employment at a university.

WWW.360CSR.COM

I thought I might get through 2006 without another job for my little web business SL8.COM.  But at the end of September two professors in SBE hired me to create their web site at  www.360csr.com.  I'll be replacing the temporary site there in October.  Web design is to me what painting or knitting must be to others.  It's creative, artistic, yet a bit technical.  Not unlike my old NW Indian art hobby.  (And on another tech front, I finally got www.Bellevue1.com upgraded from 500MB to 50GB.  That ought to satisfy my storage needs for years to come.)

Interesting DVD of the Month
 
It got mixed reviews but I liked Aeon Flux, an action sci-fi movie about the last five million people on earth surviving in a futuristic city.  I don't want to give away the plot but it said to me, love is stronger than even many deaths.  Reviewers said the plot showed no imagination and the movie was more style that substance (and it is very stylish).  I agree with them -- but I enjoyed it anyway.  Of course, watching actress Charlize Theron was quite enough compensation for a thin plot. 

My "Avatar"
 
Jeannie and Annie like to participate in online discussion groups.  They visit web sites and represent themselves with images called avatars.    So when we started a little family forum to see how an online forum was set up, I had to choose/create an avatar.  What does my choice say to you about me? 

My August Quote

Roy Hobbs:  "Some mistakes we never stop paying for."
Iris:  "You know, I believe we have two lives.
The life we learn with and the life we live with after that."
Roy: "What do you mean?"
Iris: "With or without the records, they'll remember you."

Robert Redford and Glenn Close in The Natural