Summer

Yes, summer is officially here for me, now. Today was the last official duty day for teachers, and now I face the challenge of prioritizing my summer.
Contrary to popular belief, teachers do not get the summer off. Rather, after doing 12 months of work in 9, we get a less-structured time to accomplish everything we couldn't get done because of other commitments. So, I'm looking forward to having a little looser schedule for a while. Lord willing, it will be restful enough that I'll be ready to go by August.

Soggy Memorial Day?

Memorial Day is the traditional start of summer. This year, it also could be another in a line of rain-soaked days. The humidity here in Topeka is about as high as it's been all year, which means that there's plenty of moisture to precipitate out of the atmosphere (the technical name is precipitable water, by the way). That means that overnight tonight and all day tomorrow, any storms that form could produce flash flooding, even flooding. On top of the flooding potential, there is a decent chance of severe weather around Topeka. The Storm Prediction Center has Topeka on the edge of a "moderate" risk area for tomorrow. That is the second-highest possible rating, and they rarely use the "high" rating, reserving it for significant outbreaks. So, tomorrow could be an active weather day, one that will hinder all of my brilliant plans to do work outside around my house. [Sigh]. I guess I'll have to do what I can with what God gives me, but I sure would like to have the time tomorrow to get these outside projects done.

Only in Baseball

One of my favorite parts about baseball is the unusual trades that go on quite frequently in the game. The most common type of trade that you never hear about in any other sport is the well-known "player to be named later" trade. Team A will trade Player A to team B for a "player to be named later." Talk about trusting the other team not to stick you with someone worthless! Or maybe there's something in the trade deal that requires comparable value. I don't know.e
Well, a quite unusual trade has just been reported by the media. You can read the story here. Apparently, a minor league team in Canada has traded one of their players for baseball bats. Yes, you read that correctly: baseball bats. I guess the team had trouble getting the guy into the country, so they decided to get something of value out of signing him. Still, it is a bit odd to trade a player for bats. What next? Trading a player for catching gear?
Only in baseball can you find such unusual trades, and that's one reason why I enjoy following the sport.

I Didn't Think I Was THAT Old

The other day, I was looking in the mirror, and I noticed one hair that looked out of place. It wasn't that it was heading the wrong direction, like they so often do for me. Nor was it longer than all the rest. Instead, a gray hair stared me in the face. Now, I realize that I'm 30. I realize that I can't stay young forever, but I really didn't expect my hair to start showing any signs of gray until at least 35 or 40.
I did a little research, however, and from what I read, it sounds like the initial gray hairs are not that out of the ordinary for my age. Of course, the part that bothers me is that I'm saying things such as "not out of the ordinary for my age." I'm not that old! I can't be! Wasn't I just 27? And what happened to 25 and 26? College really wasn't that long ago, was it?
So, I should go, now, before these musings develop into a "quarter-life" crisis.

It's Not to the Level of a Faramir, But...

I went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Capsian tonight, and I was disappointed. Now, I knew coming in that they had made some changes. (Tangent: Why screenwriters feel that they need to make significant changes to books when they adapt them to the screen is beyond me.) However, I was not prepared for the severity of the changes.
Don't get me wrong: the movie as a movie is a good movie. Most people, who don't know the book well, will find it enjoyable.
On the other hand, those who know the book will probably find the amount of changes to the storyline (for no apparent reason) disappointing. I won't put any spoilers in the regular post, but I will leave one comment that contains a spoiler, so be warned.
So, was it a good movie. Yes. Was it as good as The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? No. Let's hope that this movie grosses enough that the Hollywood big-wigs will decide to make Voyage of the Dawn Treader into a movie. And when they do, let's hope they hire a new writing staff: one that knows how to adapt a book without messing with the plot.

Amazing Weather

It's been a wonderfully-cool spring so far. By this time last year, it was already in the 80s on a consistent basis. This year, though, it's been cool and enjoyable every day. Praise God for this nice weather.

Weather Tomorrow

Tomorrow has the potential to be a bit of an interesting weather day. A cold front/dry line appears poised to move through the area tomorrow. Depending on its timing, the Topeka area could see strong/severe storms. At this time, the Storm Prediction Center seems to think that the best threat for severe weather lies to the southeast of the Topeka area. That could change, however, depending on the timing of the system and the state of the atmosphere tomorrow. The only way to be more confident of the exact timing/details of the storm system is to wait until tomorrow. Hopefully, it all comes to nothing. The area in SE KS and SW MO has already had enough rough weather in recent history.

Bye, Bye, Cox Cable

My experiment with over the air digital television has been an astounding success! I get great picture and sound with just a small, indoor antenna, so there's reason to pay $14 a month for what I get already over the air. I've not been pleased with Cox's services, anyway, so I'm glad that I have an option that doesn't cost me anything.

Washington, DC

I usually don't talk about school-related items on this blog, but I'm going to make an exception because this past week involved more than the usual school-related activities. It was Tours.
As most of you know, the Tour week is a standard part of the education at Cair Paravel, where students from 7th-12th grade (in groups of 2 grades each) travel to different parts of the country to learn by experiencing what God has made.
This year, I went with the freshmen and sophomores to Washington, DC. This DC trip is quite familiar to me, since this trip was #4 since 2002. Even though many elements of this trip were familiar, traveling with a different group of students made the trip different (and enjoyable). Although no single event served as a highlight this year, I enjoyed getting to visit places like the Capital, the Smithsonian Museums, the International Spy Museum, the Memorials, and Mount Vernon. Seeing a baseball game at Nationals Park was also great, especially since the game took only 2 hours, 4 minutes, and we got a free bobblehead out of the deal. :-)
Despite the adventures at the beginning, by God's grace, it was a great Tour, and I'm looking forward to finishing off this school year.
The pictures that I took while on Tour can be found here.