Primary Election Results

The results from the primary election have rolled in, and they are hardly surprising. The closest race was between Republicans Jim Ryun and Lynn Jenkins. Jenkins won by a couple percentage points and now will face incumbent Nancy Boyda in November. Jenkins winning the primary presents a Boyda with a difficult task ahead of her. She won largely because of a backlash against Republicans, especially by moderate voters. Jenkins, however, should be attractive to many moderate voters. Definitely, she will be more attractive than Ryun would have been. Jenkins' ability to attract more of the moderate vote should give her a decent shot of winning, if she manages her campaign correctly. A good place to start would be the low approval rating of Congress. I've seen it listed as low as 9%, lower than President Bush's.
The other results were as I expected, most notably Rucker beat out Hecht for the Republican nod for District Attorney. Hopefully, all of the politics come to an end for a month or two before it picks back up in October. (Wishful thinking, I know....)

More Mud Than a Pig Sty

It's August, and the general election is still about four months away. Already, however, the mud slinging between candidates has begun. Locally, former representative Jim Slattery, a Democrat, is trying to beat out Pat Roberts, a Republican, for the Senate seat. And Slattery has already started in on a ton of negative attack ads against Senator Roberts. And, as with most attack ads, most of the information contained in them is mostly incorrect, at best. It's not the only ugly campaign going on. Lynn Jenkins and Jim Ryun are both vying for the Republican position on the ballot against incumbent Democrat Nancy Boyda. The Jenkins/Ryun ads are ugly enough. Once the primary election is over and Boyda and the Republican nominee start going after each other it's going to get really ugly, really quickly, especially if Ryun is her opponent. If I remember correctly, those two constantly attacked each other for months, often using subtle (yet powerful) means to avoid looking negative. Ugh. Such ugly political attacks are why I never want to run for office. I'm already sick of such horrible behavior, and it's only going to get worse once the primaries are over. I may be making much use of the mute button in the next few months, assuming I even dare watch TV at all.
Interestingly, the national election is getting ugly, too, although since Kansas is not a critical state, we're not having to put up with the Presidential mudslinging. Still, the news is constantly replete with mud-slinging, and, even more amusingly, accused mudslinging. Presumptive Democrat nominee Barack Obama constantly has accused his opponent's (presumptive Republican nominee John McCain's) campaign of playing the "race card." The odd part about that accusation: it's completely baseless. McCain has, however, run some attack ads against Obama that say he is arrogant and not ready to lead.
So, that's the current situation. Where do I stand on all of these candidates? Well, I'm not going to say definitely. In some ways, I'm not thrilled with most of the candidates, but I'm especially not excited about the two options for President. Obama and I disagree on just about every major political issue, and I think that the McCain ad about him being arrogant and not ready to lead is right on target. That doesn't mean that I'm all for McCain, however. I don't agree with half of his political positions, and I am not convinced that he'll survive four years of the stress of being the President. That will make McCain's choice of a running mate critical for my decision. (It doesn't matter if Obama picked Sam Brownback for his running mate. Obama already has lost my vote.) If McCain chooses someone who is a younger conservative who could legitimately run the country if McCain were to die, I think that I might vote for him. If he picks another moderate like himself, well, I'm not sure what I'll do. But I'll wait to see on that.
For now, I'll be sure to take a shower after watching any amount of TV to get off all of the mud that's being slung.

Uthf

I don't know what it is about today, but I'm feeling like I'm functioning at about 50% or so. It's an odd sort of cloudy day. Odd because it's late July, and normally it is clear, sunny, and insanely hot. Those conditions appear to be coming in the next few days, so I'm not disappointed in this abnormal weather. Still, I think it's having an effect on me. I can't seem to get my thoughts fully in order. Well, it looks like it's going to be one of those days when I'm going to have lean on God's grace because my own aptitude just isn't there right now.

It's So Nice to Be Home!

After three weeks of hard work, and a Saturday of refereeing soccer games, I only have one thing to say: it feels really, really good to be home. Thanks be to God for such a great place to live!

Punished for Working Efficiently

A significant part of the class that I'm taking this week requires me to design an integrated thematic unit, which is a way of structuring a unit so that it is built around a conceptual theme that the class then examines in light of different disciplines. It is the sort of thing done frequently in elementary school, but never (with good reason) done in high school. As a high school teacher, it may seem odd that I'm in the class, but because of schedule problems, this was the only option for this year.
Designing the unit hasn't been hard. I have a nice, 7-block (about 3 week) unit designed on "Reading and Responding to the Book of Creation." It's part mathematics, part history, part apologetics, and part practical theology. Incidentally, most of what I've done will never be used in my classroom because it does not match with the reality of the nature of the material I have to teach and the way that I believe it should be taught. I'm trying to be as creative and outside-the-box as possible right now so that I can maybe come up with 1-2 good ideas for my real classroom.
Since it uses quite a bit of material that I already have planned and since this topic is one that I've already done a lot of thinking and reading about, it was very easy for me to design a unit that met the professor's criteria. So easy, in fact, that I could be done in the next hour or two if I really wanted to be. I don't really have any motivation to work, however. Since I've worked so quickly, my professor has threatened me with having to start work on another thematic unit. Since I don't like the concept of integrated thematic units at the high school level a whole lot in the first place (I disagree with many of the philosophical bases that this approach is based on), the last thing I want to do is start designing another unit. I can't help the fact that I picked a good topic and that I like to work efficiently at a task, especially one that I want to get done so I can move on to other things. But to punish me for working efficiently by then demanding more work from me is ridiculous.
So, tomorrow is going to be a highly inefficient day. Two hours of work is about to become five. I dislike being off-task to such a large degree, but if it's an option between a minor waste of time (slow work) and a major waste of time (designing another unit), I'll take the minor one any day.
I'm ready to be done with classes for the summer. Why can't they end on Thursday?

One Week Left

The marathon sprint (yes, I am aware that I just wrote an oxymoron) that is summer graduate courses at Dordt College is drawing to a close. Soon, I'll be done with round 2 of my Masters-degree coursework. And you couldn't pay me enough to stay around a minute longer than I have to; I'm ready to be home.
This week promises to be a lot of work, and I'm not particularly looking forward to that. Tonight, in fact, should be my shortest night. The rest of the week is going to be loaded with inefficient group work, a redundant statement. I'm not looking forward to doing it, but I am looking forward to getting it done. I just want to be home.

Why Can't I Write?

My class this week on Integrating Students with Special Needs has been interesting, even if a lot of it does not relate to my particular situation. One aspect, though, that has been unpleasant has been the activity to write a "social story." These stories try to use really simple language to try to explain to students with disabilities the proper way to behave. Sounds simple, right? Well, it should have been, but for some reason, I couldn't write the silly thing! The restrictions were quite onerous for me. (For one thing, I couldn't use words like "onerous.") Thankfully, my professor helped me figure out how to approach it. Still, I am amazed at how much trouble I had. [Sigh]. I guess no one of us can do everything.

Week 2 Begins

Week one of my 3 weeks at Dordt has finished. My class this past week went pretty well; it wasn't anywhere as difficult as I thought it was going to be. It still was work, of course, but the workload wasn't overwhelming. It's good to have that class done and out of the way.
My class this week is going to be a complete unknown. I know nothing about this professor, and I can't tell from her syllabus exactly how much work she will ask of us during the on-campus phase. Since she's a new professor, there are two possibilities: too much work or too little. I wouldn't mind the latter, myself, since from what I hear, my course in week 3 is the former.
It does not matter much, of course. It's by God's grace that I get any of this work done, anyway. We'll just have to see what happens.

Why Not Hydrogen-Fueled Planes?

I was pondering this idea the other day: as we see the price of oil skyrocket and dream of a hydrogen economy, why do we hear so much about implementing hydrogen as a fuel for automobiles and not as a fuel for planes? Given the infrastructure challenges facing hydrogen-powered cars, it would seem to me to make more since to roll out hydrogen-fueled airplanes, instead. There are fewer airports than there are gas stations, the refueling of planes is accomplished by more trained workers (a concern for self-serve hydrogen fueling stations), and switching to hydrogen-powered planes would significantly reduce our demand for oil. Yet, I haven't heard of any planes that run on hydrogen. An Internet search for hydrogen-powered airplanes turned up lots of environmentalist websites, no mainstream media sites, and a couple of research articles. Boeing, according to the one article that I read, seems to doubt the ability of hydrogen fuel cells to be the primary source of power for commercial aircraft. Whether this inability truly exists, or whether it's more of a "640K out to be enough for anybody" statement, remains to be seen. I'm all for switching to hydrogen power overall. So, to all mechanical and aerospace engineers out there, no nay-saying about this idea. Let's get those fuel cells and/or hydrogen engines functioning at a high enough level that we can drop oil as our main fuel source.

Tomorrow it begins

The first of 3 graduate classes that I am taking this summer begins its on-campus phase tomorrow. From my recent perusal of the class roster, there appear to be only 6 of us in class. That is a smaller class than the 10 or so that I had in each of my classes last year. A small class should make for a more enjoyable experience, however, since we'll each have plenty of time to interact with the professor and each other. I'm looking forward to the class, but I also have to admit to feeling a bit of trepidation at the start of this next class. Parker Palmer says that a teacher's biggest fear is being expose as a fake, and I can't help but wonder if that fear is at the core of the timorousness. It definitely will be a time for leaning on God's grace, and I look forward to seeing what God does in the coming week!

July and Hard Work

Wow, it's July! It seems like a long time and yet a short time since the latest class of seniors at Cair Paravel said their final farewell to the hallowed halls. Now, I've spent over a month on "vacation." I'm not quite ready for school to start, but neither am I ready for more time off. The routine has gotten, well, just that--routine. That will all change here in a few days when I start three weeks of all-out sprint academically, taking a graduate course a week for the next three weeks. I've already spent about a month in pre-campus work, but now it's time to take the classes themselves. If they're anything like last year's classes, I'll be very busy during the week and very bored on the weekends. Such is the way this program goes. At this point, though, it will be a welcome change of pace from what has become my summer routine.

Poem: Psalm 61

I wrote this song/poem a while back. I'd forgotten about it until I was exploring a folder on my hard drive and found it. Enjoy.

Help me, Lord, I’m fading
My love for You away
Listen, Lord, and help me
Restore my joy in You

Lead me to the rock higher than I
Lead me to the rock higher than I
Lead me to the rock higher than I
Lead me to the rock

At times I feel so empty,
My soul’s brook run dry
All my hope seems futile
And I don’t even care

Lead me to the rock higher than I
Lead me to the rock higher than I
Lead me to the rock higher than I
Lead me to the rock

My thirsty heart screams
For more of You than me
So take this broken vessel
And build it up again

Lead me to the rock higher than I
Lead me to the rock higher than I
Lead me to the rock higher than I
Lead me to the rock

A Solution to High Gas Prices?

This article discusses some interesting testimony before Congress by some energy analysts about the effect of speculators on the current price of oil. Speculators, the analysts claim, have been driving oil prices far above their appropriate values. So, the analysts say that if Congress enacts legislation to limit speculation in the oil futures market, the price of oil could return to a level that would allow $2 a gallon gasoline. (Oh, those were the days, huh? :-) ) Of course, we all know how accurate analysts are. Anyone remember that record-setting hurricane season analysts predicted for last year? :-)

Ah, Summer!

Today was a great summer day. It was quiet, with little wind, and it was cool enough by 6:30 that I was able to ride my bike to small group. Then, because it's summer, it stayed light late enough for me to ride back safely. And being a Sunday, traffic was light. It was just a nice, relaxing day.

Out of Control "Green"

Apparently, the latest fad in society is being "green." If see another commercial where a company blathers on about how "green" (meaning not contributing to the greenhouse effect), I may well break my television. Our society seems to have developed "carbon-phobia," as if CO2 is the most evil gas in the world. What's sad about all of this fear is that the link between human-produced CO2 and global warming is not as strong as the media would have us believe. We are worrying ourselves to death over something that is not as significant as we think. And in the fear of emitting CO2, we're adopting all sorts of measures that could have negative repercussions, economically and environmentally.
Economically, we're slowly wreaking our economy because we're afraid of building new power plants. The result will be an increase in demand and a huge upswing in the price of electricity. Nuclear power may well be the best political option, but the costs of building new nuclear reactors are also prohibitive.
Environmentally, the craze for compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) will create a toxic waste hazard because every CFL contains mercury. Most consumers are not going to dispose of their expired CFLs appropriately, and the end result will be an increase of the mercury levels in our landfills. Likewise, hydrogen power is not as "green" as people would have us believe. Hydrogen power emits water vapor as its by product, and water vapor not only is a "greenhouse gas" but also a major source of energy for thunderstorms. Here's what I mean: imagine a city the size of Kansas City with all of the cars powered by hydrogen. The emissions from these cars will increase the humidity in the Kansas City area significantly. This additional humidity will make summers more uncomfortable and also provide extra moisture for storms, meaning more heavy rain events (flooding) and more severe storms (hail, high winds, tornadoes). In other words, as we rush to hydrogen as if it's a savior, we need to remember that hydrogen power has its own significant side effects that we need to be prepared for.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all for being wise in how we treat the environment. If we can switch from highly-polluting oil to lower-pollution hydrogen, I'm all for it, even if the result is a more humid environment. But we need to be circumspect. The current "I'm more green than you" mentality preys on unfounded fear of a catastrophic greenhouse effect that's our fault. And that fear, if it drives our decision-making in politics and in life, could result in decisions that do more harm to our society and the environment than anything that global warming could ever cause.

Unbelievable Finish

While I was waiting for the US-Barbados World Cup Qualifying match, I watched pieces of the replay of the Euro 2008 game between Turkey and the Czech Republic. With as little as 20 minutes left, the Czech Republic was up 2-0. At any level, especially the International level, that kind of lead is usually insurmountable. In this case, however, Turkey managed to get 3 goals, including 2 in 2 minutes. I'm not a huge fan of Turkey, but it was an impressive effort. And it just goes to show that you never know what's going to happen.

What's Wrong with the Royals?

I have been a fan of Kansas City Royals baseball as long as I can remember. I grew up listening to the games as a child and can (barely) remember them winning the World Series in 1985.
In the 23 years since reaching the pinnacle of baseball success, the Royals have slowly become one of the worst teams in baseball on a consistent basis. Every year, I hear the same thing in Spring Training. "We've got the team that will win more games this year." "We're not going to lose 100 games this year, and a year (or two) from now, we'll be playing meaningful games in September." About mid-May, I hear the same thing every year. "I don't understand why we're losing games, we have the talent." And by July, I start hearing, "Well, next year, when _________ is healthy." "Next year, when _______________ makes it to the Majors." It's a sure sign that the Royals are losing so frequently that they practically have last place in their division all locked up.
I light of this consistency poor play, which has included blowing innumerable four-plus-run leads in the late innings in the last two weeks, I have to ask myself, what's wrong with the Royals? Well, I don't claim to be a guru, and I certainly would not want to be a manager or a GM. What I'm writing here are possible problems with possible solutions.
What's wrong with the Royals?
1. The lack of offensive punch. Jose Guillen has been a great addition; he gives Kansas City someone who actually can hit something besides the occasional double. The rest of the team, however, is ineffective offensively. The player with the best average on the team (excluding pitchers) is DeJesus, who is hitting .296. Compare that to the Texas Rangers, who have 5 players hitting over .300. Now, Texas is one of the best offenses in the league, so I don't expect the Royals to have as many guys over .300, but to have none is sure sign that the offense is not as it should be.
Solution? I'm at a loss here. Dayton Moore, the GM, has done everything he can to find a power hitter or two to put into the middle of the offense. There aren't that many out there that the Royals can afford. Perhaps, one of the younger players will develop into a power threat. That idea, however, leads me to another problem.
2. The inability to retain players. A perennial problem is the inability to keep solid players once they've reached their prime. Look around the league at some of the better players in the league: Damon and Beltran, for example. They came up with the Royals, but Kansas City was forced to get rid of them because their salary demands were too high. In all likelihood, the same thing will happen to all the young players who are being hailed as the "future" of the team. They'll be gone right as they're hitting their peak and could be part of a winning team. Which leads me to my last point.
Solution? Being a small-market team, Kansas City only has so much money to compete with the seemingly endless pockets of New York, Boston, LA, and San Francisco. The best solution in my mind is a salary cap. That, of course, would be blocked by the Players' Union, which has far too much power. Their reasons for opposing it are almost ludicrous. You're telling me that making $3.5 million a year isn't enough? That the market alone should be able to set value? The end result is a lack of competitive balance and the eventual collapse of the league. A salary cap needs to be implemented for the good of the game. Most of these major leaguers are making enough that if they manage their money well, they'll be fine once they leave the game.
3. The culture of losing. Their seems to be something that surrounds this club, an air of almost-mythical proportions. We've seen it in all of the late-inning collapses of recent weeks. We've seen it in when former Cy Young winners become complete duds. It must be something in the water in KC, because I can't explain it. Or, perhaps, there just simply isn't the talent there.
Solution? I don't know. Perhaps it's time for organization-wide psychological help. Something has to change if this team is ever going to get out of the cellar and become competitive again. Right now, based off of what I've seen, they're not.

More Storms

The weather continues to be May-like here in June. A strong squall line is headed for Topeka; I can hear the thunder rumbling in the distance. It has been quite an interesting weather week, with the outbreak on Thursday and a line of strong storms moving through the area. Hopefully, this line will amount to nothing more than some heavy rain.

Severe Weather Outbreak -- 10:15 pm

Thanks be to God, the worst that happened here in Topeka was an hour-long power outage in the central part of the city. I was among those without power, but the Westar crews did an admirable (and somewhat foolhardy, given the amount of lightning present in these storms) job in getting power back on. Otherwise, the majority of the severe weather occurred west of the city. With the severe weather threat moving east, it's time for me to call it a night. Hopefully, this outbreak is the last one of the season. I'm ready for some calmer weather.

Severe Weather Outbreak -- 8:15 pm

Finally, it's Topeka's turn. A severe thunderstorm is moving its way up the turnpike. I expect to have to seek shelter here in the few minutes from the large hail and damaging winds. I'll post another report after the storm passes through.

Severe Weather Outbreak -- 6:30 pm

I underestimated the available energy in the atmosphere in central Kansas. The severe weather is starting to break out with increasing rapidity. We're seeing quite the outbreak of tornadoes across the region, not just central Kansas. Three tornadoes were reported out by Clay Center, another tornado is on the ground right now between Manhattan and Ogden, and a third tornado warning is out for Wichita.
The SPC expects the lines of storms that are producing these storms to turn into long-lived squall lines (called derechos) with tornado-proudcing supercells embedded on the north and south edges of any line.
Topeka is not yet experiencing anything severe, but the winds are still gusting strongly from the south. There is plenty of energy available to any storms that move into the region. I'll have to be ready to take cover once any storms move this direction. I'll try to keep blogging if something happens, unless the power goes out.

Severe Weather Outbreak -- 5:00 pm

So far, this "outbreak" has not been as significant as I had expected, although there have been several fast-moving supercells in central Kansas. These low-topped (mini) supercells generally do not produce strong, long-lived tornadoes, though. That's fine with me, as I'm sure it is with those who are in the path of the storms.
Still, the threat exists for severe weather throughout the region, and NE Kansas is about to come under the gun. The SPC is planning on issuing a Tornado Watch for E Kansas and NW Missouri soon. The main threat, according to SPC forecasters, is for large hail and damaging winds, although embedded tornadoes are possible.
The sun has tried to peak out from behind the clouds a few times in the past 2 hours, but the skies remain primarily overcast, and the temperature is at 84. If the sun had been out for the past two hours and the temperature had jumped, conditions would have been much worse.

Severe Weather Outbreak -- 3:30 pm

3:30 pm The SPC's next Convective Outlook just came out. It appears that they still expect a significant weather event to occur across the Central Plains. They did not shift the greatest threat area to the west and north as I had expected. Instead, they kept it pretty much in the same region as before, with the exception of expanding the probability of significant hail southward towards NE Kansas. It appears that they expect the threat for destructive, long-lived tornadoes to still exist. Given that they have a ton of data at their fingertips and at least Master's Degrees in Meteorology, I'm not going to argue. It should be an active afternoon/evening.

Severe Weather Outbreak -- 3:00 pm

3:00 pm -- Severe thunderstorms are in progress in Western and Central Kansas. Some of the storms are rotating, meaning that they are capable of producing tornadoes. No reports of tornadoes in Central Kansas, yet, although there probably still will be some. The SPC has tornado watches running from Northern Texas all the way to NW Iowa. The western 2/3 of Kansas and most of Nebraska are under watches of some sort. It could still be an interesting afternoon.
The latest convective outlook from the SPC has not yet arrived on their website. Whether that is a delay due to how their computers process the data, or whether the situation is complex enough that they want to get the changes right, I expect the next risk assessment put Topeka in a lower risk area than before. We'll see if I'm right in a few minutes.
Here in Topeka, skies are still overcast, and temperatures are still on the cool side for this time of year: 82 at Billard. Without extra heating, I'll be surprised if we have sufficient instability for significant severe weather. Why is extra heating needed? The warmer air is, the less dense it is, and the less dense it is, the more it will want to rise once it is forced upward from the surface. At 1 pm, there was still a strong inversion over Topeka, meaning that any air that is forced to rise would be cooler than the air in the region it was lifted into. As a result, thunderstorms will have a hard time developing. If this inversion (often called a cap) erodes, the energy is there for strong thunderstorms, although the tornado threat for the area around Topeka does not look significant at this time: the winds are not favorable for rotating storms.

Severe Weather Outbreak -- Noon

Noon -- The SPC has issued 2 PDS (Particularly Dangerous Situation) Tornado Watches from the central parts of Kansas and Nebraska. You can find current watch information at the SPC Current Watch Page. At this point, not much is happening in the watch area. There appears to be a line of strong storms forming SE of Dodge City, but they are small in nature and not moving very much. Based on radar imagery, there also appears to be some sort of boundary about halfway between Topeka and Manhattan. It is probably an outflow boundary from earlier convection. At this point, Topeka still has overcast skies with a temperature of 81. With a dewpoint of 68, though, that is enough energy for storms to feed on. The question is whether the air in place right now is unstable enough for an outbreak to occur. Whether (and when) the clouds clear out will be an important factor in what this evening's weather will be in NE Kansas.
The latest SPC Convective Outlook has just come out. It looks very much like the previous one. The High Risk area has shrunk some and now is mostly in Central Kansas up through Eastern Nebraska and NW Iowa. Topeka appears to be right on the edge of the High area. The discussion from the team of forecasters that looked at this event still indicates that they expect significant severe weather, including the potential for strong, long-track tornadoes.
The threat is still several hours away for this part of the state, but it will be wise to stay tuned to local media outlets this afternoon and evening.

Severe Weather Outbreak -- 8:15 am

8:15 am -- As I expected, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has put the center of the country--including the Eastern part of Kansas in a "High" risk area. For a details of the risk area, click here. For those of you not familiar with SPC procedure, the "High" category is used only a few times each year. The SPC only uses it when they expect a significant, severe outbreak of severe weather. While I have seen a situation in which an area marked "High" had no severe weather at all, those circumstances are rare. There is the possibility that the conditions will not play out exactly as forecasted, but it's better to be prepared than caught off guard.
I'll be following the weather as much as I can all day, and I'll add updates to later parts of this post as conditions warrant.
If you live in the high risk area, you will want to keep one eye on your local media outlets, starting this afternoon. You can also use the NWS Forecast Office in Topeka's website as a source for information. Stay safe today!

Another Round of Severe Weather Possible

Tomorrow could be an active day for severe weather across the NE Kansas area. Depending on the timing of the next system, a significant severe weather outbreak could occur tomorrow afternoon/evening in this area. Of course, given how far out, it is still possible that the conditions will not be completely correct and that nothing will happen. If the forecast verifies, though, we may be in for a round of rough weather, the likes of which we haven't seen in June for several years. I know that I'll be watching the development of this system with interest. Lord willing, nothing significant will come of it.

Pirates of Penzance

As a part of my dad's birthday present, we went to a performance in Wichita of the Pirates of Penzance, a classic Gilbert and Sullivan opera. As with most performances of Pirates, there is quite a bit of silliness hidden in the lyrics that the actors bring out well. In particular, these actors played the silliness factor well--none of the characters is terribly bright.
I already knew this opera somewhat well, so it was nice to see some of my favorite moments come to life. There's something that strikes a chord with me during Frederic's plea for one of the Major General's daughters to marry him in spite of his low position as a former pirate. "Is there not one maiden [here]/Which does not feel the moral beauty/Of making worldly interest/Subordinate to sense of duty?/Who would not give up willingly/All matrimonial ambition,/To rescue such a one as I/From his unfortunate position?" Something about that resonates with me. Not sure why. ;-)
And of course, my favorite song of the entire has to be the Major General's introductory "patter song," especially once the mathematical terms start flowing. "I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,/About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news/With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse..." Ah, yes, good stuff. Definitely worth seeing again, if another company puts it on somewhere nearby in the near future.

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.

Lawn Work

So, yesterday, I went out to mow my front lawn with my little push mower. My neighbors were out working on their lawns, and one of them offers to let me borrow his gasoline-powered mower to trim my Bermuda-grass front lawn in order to help it warm up. I took him up on the offer, and I'll tell you what: my lawn looks really good right now, just by how it's clipped. I'm thinking I might have to invest in a gasoline or electric lawn mower just to make caring for my minuscule front lawn a lot easier. The old push mower that I have just isn't cutting it (pun intended). But, there are bigger fish to fry around the house: the garage needs to be re-roofed and the whole exterior (including the garage) needs to get re-painted. We'll just have to see whether the funds will be there or not.

Digital Television Experiment

For months, I've been hoping to use an antenna and a digital converter to get television over the air instead of paying money to cable for basically nothing. Monday, the coupon that I've been waiting for from the government finally arrived, and today I hooked up the new digital converter box to my old, analog television. So far, the results have been good, even though I'm using only a small, indoor antenna. Every station seems to coming in relatively well, although I do have to re-orient my antenna to get the best signal. Still, the results have been quite satisfactory, even with thunderstorms in the area. I'm going to give this experiment a two or three week run before I finally pull the plug on cable, just to make sure that everything will work satisfactorily. Then, if all goes as expected, I will happily stop paying money to Cox.

Spring: This Time It's for Real

After a couple of false starts, Spring has finally settled into the Central Plains. These past two days have been beautiful, with sunny, warm weather. It looks like the abnormally-cold start to Spring is finally over with. While I've shivered a lot at soccer games so far this season, there have been two tremendous benefit to this cold start to Spring: minimal yard work necessary and no mosquitos. Normally, everything would have already bloomed two weeks ago. Instead, everything is blooming now, and it is beautiful. What more can I say but thanks be to God!

Taking Things a Little Too Seriously

If you want to read about a situation in which someone had his priorities a little out of whack, read this story from the AP about a construction worker who tried to curse the NY Yankees' new baseball stadium by burying a Red Sox jersey in the concrete. I mean, I understand his desire to see the Yankees lose. I'm no fan of NY and the destructive effects its overspending has had on Major League Baseball as a whole. Still, an action such as this one, which could likely result in criminal charges, is a bit over the top. Baseball, after all, is just a game. In eternity, we're not going to care whether the Yankees (or Royals) won the World Series in a given year. All that's going to matter is what we have done for Jesus Christ. And I know that I fall far short of serving Him as I ought. So, I'm going to take this as an object lesson for myself to continue to work on getting my priorities straight, putting the eternal first and the temporal second.

I Spoke Too Soon

With a forecast high of only 49 for Friday, it appears that my declaration of Spring's arrival was premature. The average high for this time of year is about 60-61 degrees. For most of this month, we've been stuck in the 50s or lower. It has been a cold, gray, rainy start to "Spring." The nice part about this cool, rainy weather is that it helps keep the bugs under control. It's been too cold for mosquitos and flies to become active, meaning that as long as one dresses properly, it is enjoyable to be outside. In fact, I think I'll do that right now. I feel the need for a nice, easy jog.

Finally, Spring!

The nice weather that I've been waiting for has finally arrived! Today feels like Spring. The temperatures are in the 60s, thunderstorms are in the forecast for the coming days, and I've got the windows open, enjoying it all. I can hear the roar of lawn mowers and smell the freshly cut grass from one of my nearby neighbors mowing his lawn. I can hear the birds singing with gusto. My cat is going nuts, running between the windows while trying to keep an eye on all the birds and squirrels. Ah, yes, Spring is here!

The Royals Start 2008 Well

Just have to publish this because I'm a bit surprised to be writing it and because I want to savor it while it lasts: the Kansas City Royals have a winning record! After 2 games, the Royals are 2-0. Today's game was a 4-0 blanking of the Detroit Tigers, a team that is expected to compete for the AL Central. The Royals, if all goes well, will avoid the cellar, but it is unrealistic to expect much better than that. Still, it's exciting now to have a couple of good wins to kick off the season.

Grammar Rant

<rant>I think that we can emphatically say that the American education system is completely worthless. A billboard along a major highway here in Topeka has emblazoned on it in gigantic letters, "Topeka: The skies the limit!" If you don't see what's wrong with that statement, go back a re-read it. If you still don't see what's wrong, grab your nearest dictionary and whack yourself firmly in the head with it (just kidding). The problem is that whoever wrote the billboard's text confused "sky's" (the contraction for "sky is") with "skies" (the plural of sky). The statement, instead of meaning that the sky is the limit, mentions multiple skies (and last time I checked, there was only one sky here on Earth) and a limit, but has no verb connecting them. In a twist of bitter irony, this billboard that attempts to make Topekans feel good about their city is instead confirming about every stereotype about the city. </rant>

Oops

Looks like I forgot to post on Wednesday night. This week has flown by after Spring Break, mercifully, passed by quite slowly. By the time I realized that it was Thursday, it was Friday, so I completely spaced the need to post. Of course, I have very little to post right now, as you no doubt can tell by how pointless this post is. I'll try to having something substantial to post next time a post is due.

Global Warming (Again)

Here's an interesting op-ed piece out of Australia regarding the possibility that we might not be seeing global warming now. You can read it here. Remember that it is an op-ed piece in the British style, so there is some "the other papers are idiots" stuff at the end. The initial information, though, refers to other points besides the author's and should be consider as we evaluate the entire global warming situation and what we should (or should not) do about it.

NCAA Round 2

The second round of the NCAA Men's Tournament is here, and both K-State and KU are still going. K-State faces the tougher of the two games this afternoon, playing a Wisconsin team that is one of the best defensively in the country. K-State is going to have to shoot at least as well as they did against USC if they hope to be able to win the game. K-State is also going to have to rebound well, like they did against USC, a team that does not rebound well. Wisconsin, I have a feeling, will be a bit too much for K-State, and the Wildcats will probably lose. Then again, I thought the same thing about San Diego. And I hope I'm wrong about K-State's chances.
KU has a bit of an easier game against UNLV, but the Running Rebels are well-coached and used to tough games in the tournament. As long as KU plays solid defense and shoots average to above average, they will win. It will probably not be a blow out game, though. Both games should be entertaining.

K-State and KU, pt. II

The K-State game has just ended, and they played the kind of game that they needed to play in order to advance beyond the first round. They played great defense, wore USC out, and found ways to score with Beasley in foul trouble. KSU proved that they deserved better than an 11 seed with that performance. K-State's next game is probably going to be against Wisconsin, and that's going to be a much more difficult game. If they play the way they played tonight, though, they have a chance at winning. I was impressed with K-State's play.
KU, in its game, looked like a #1 seed. They will face an actual challenge from UNLV. Still, it should be a challenge that KU should have minimal trouble meeting.
Of course, there's a reason that we play the games: Belmont nearly knocked off Duke (and messed up 3/4 of the country's brackets). Ah, March Madness!

Thoughts on K-State and KU in NCAA Tournament

For K-State and KU, their NCAA basketball tournament runs start today. Just how far they get is anyone's guess. The media "experts" have K-State losing to USC in the first round and KU going various distances, usually quite far. I don't agree with the "experts." I can see the possibility of K-State winning their first round game if they play well as a team. Too often, K-State has been a one-man show, 4 of the 5 guys on the floor for K-State stand around waiting for Beasley to do something. That can't happen tonight. K-State is also going to have to shoot well from three point range. This team seems to like to take threes, and they also seem to like to miss them. A solid night shooting from behind the arc will open up the middle for Walker (and for Beasley). K-State might make it past the first round, but I don't expect them to go much farther unless the team manages to put together two consecutive games like the game they had against KU in Manhattan.
KU, on the other hand, has what should be an easy first-round game. That means, of course, that they could struggle for the first 15-20 minutes because they underestimated the determination of their opponent. Some people seem to think that KU can win it all this year. I would be surprised if they do. This KU team has had some off games this year, and if they play only as well as they did against A&M in the Big XII semi-final round, they will be gone by the Sweet Sixteen. I expect them to make it to the Elite Eight this year before their tendency to have an off game catches up to them. (Unless, of course, there is a team whose name begins with "B" playing them sooner, in which case, they're done.)
Of course, all of this is speculation. There's a reason that they play the games instead of just handing the trophy to the overall #1 seed. It should be an interesting tournament.

New Word

As most of my students know, I am the king of coining new "words" by mangling old ones. Tonight during small group, I added a new one to the repertoire: blestprate (instead of breastplate). A blestprate is a combination of two words: blessed (blest, in its older form) and prate (meaning to talk on and on without meaning). So, then, does that mean that a blestprate would be a preacher who talks on and on? I'll leave that for you to decide.

Interesting Notes

During the second half of this week, I've run across a couple of interesting items that I thought I'd share.
First, the founder of the Weather Channel is arguing that global warming is not occurring and that the scientific community is silencing those who would say otherwise. In an effort to get the argument into the public arena, he is suing Al Gore for fraud. The story can be found here.
Second, I've run across a couple of fascinating Star Trek items. Apparently, CBS has the rights to the original Star Trek now, and they are re-mastering all of them to bring the special effects into the 21st century. Re-mastered episodes are being shown weekly in your area. Check your local listings; it may not be on your CBS affiliate. In the Topeka area, the show runs on KTKA 49 at 11:30 pm on Sunday nights, followed by a repeat showing of last week's episode at 12:30 am. If that's too late, you can always set your VCR/Tivo to record it for later. For those who want to watch the show in all its original cheesy goodness, CBS.com now has every episode available for viewing online. You can watch the episodes here. Be sure to check one or both of these out if you're a fan of Star Trek.

Nice Day

Today temperatures feel like they belong about a month later. It's in the 70s here right now, or it was until a cold front started its slow assault on the region. Tomorrow sadly, won't be as nice, with temperatures struggling to hit 50. Enjoy this nice weather while you can. I have nothing else to say.

Daylight Saving Time 2008

Daylight Saving Time (DST) for 2008 has arrived, and with it comes the usual feeling of being jet lagged (or is it clock lagged?) due to speeding ourselves up by an hour in order to get more light in the evening. Personally, I enjoy the result of DST, but I do not like the initial side effects: drowsiness, irritability, insomnia, headache, cold, and backache. Oh, wait, those last three are for prescription medications--sorry. So, with DST here, that should mean that Spring is just around the corner, and the weather here has happily obliged. It's over 50 outside right now, which means that I am done blogging for now; I'm going out to enjoy this nice weather.

Happy Wedtuesmonthursaturfriday!

These past couple of days have been a bit confusing for me. For some reason, I keep thinking that the day of the week is different from the one it actually is. Yesterday, for example, I thought most of the day that it was Tuesday. I would have forgotten to show up at the Study Hall I was supposed to monitor if a student hadn't asked me if I was supposed to be monitoring it. Then, for some reason, most of the day today, I kept thinking it was Wednesday, even though I know better. Ugh. It's quite disconcerting when that happens. Oh, well. I know it's Thursday and that life is going to be busy these next couple of days before it slows down a little bit. So, have happy Tuethurwednesday!

Kansas Weather: As Moody as You Think

Today into tomorrow, a fascinating early-spring/late-winter will push through the Central Plains. Yesterday and today, we've enjoyed April-like temperatures, with highs at/near 70 degrees. However, a strong cold front is pushing through. The rain has already begun to fall here in Topeka as I write this, and the rain is eventually supposed to change over to snow during the overnight hours. Up to three inches of snow could fall, and this time, I'm not going to say that such a forecast is an overestimate, not after being so wrong on the last snowfall we had here.
Regardless, it's going to make for a somewhat abrupt change in the weather, something typical for Kansas in early March. The high tomorrow will only be around 32, with a wind chill in the 20s. Quite the contrast to the last two days of warmer weather. Still, warmer weather is starting to set in, and soon this long, cold winter will be a memory.

Inflation

Unfortunately, something that hasn't happened since the '70s is poised to happen again in the coming year: inflation during an economic slowdown. Obviously, inflation is generally bad if it occurs in a significant way. For example, during 2000 and 2001, Turkey experienced (at times) nearly 100% inflation on the Turkish Lira. Within a year, money that was worth $2 sank to being worth $1. That was great for us foreign visitors; it was lousy for the Turks, who over the course of a year, found their paychecks effectively cut in half.
While the inflation that is facing the US right now isn't expected to be nearly that bad, inflation still has the same effect on the wages of workers here in the US. Generally, the Federal Reserve acts to keep inflation under control by raising interest rates, as it did in the 1970s and 1980s. However, news reports today seem to suggest that the Fed won't be raising rates and instead lowering them in the hopes of staving off a recession. My question is why is the Fed so concerned about avoiding a recession. I guess that I'm not well-enough schooled in Economics to understand. It seems to me that recessions are an inevitable part of the economic cycle, while inflation can be avoided (or at least controlled) more easily. Shouldn't the Fed be more worried about controlling inflation than preventing a recession? If one of you out there understands this whole issue well, I welcome your comments.

Worst...Drive...Ever

So, I went down to watch our boys' and girls' basketball teams play in the KCAA Tournament yesterday. I thought for sure that the road trip back would not be that bad. Snow was in the forecast for Wichita, but based off of what I saw, it looked like the snow would be not much farther north than that.
It turns out that I (and just about every other meteorologist) was wrong on this storm system. It moved farther north than expected, dropping snow almost to Topeka. That made the trip back home far more of an adventure than I would have liked. What should have been a 2-hour drive back from Wichita turned into a 3-1/2-hour-long, white-knuckle adventure of trying to stay on the road. The turnpike was completely snow-packed from Wichita all the way to the Shawnee County line (and a bit beyond). Most of the trip, I was only able to travel at 40 mph at best. Passing proved impossible, since there was only one "lane" that wasn't under at least an inch of packed snow. I don't think I would have set out from Wichita at all if the road condition hotline had accurately described the road condition of the turnpike. Instead, though, it said that the road conditions from Emporia northeastward was "Normal Seasonal Conditions," a statement that proved to be totally incorrect. I'm not sure where the hotline got its information from, but it was totally incorrect in this case. Oh, well. I made it home safely, praise God! Now, I can get set for a new week. Soccer is just around the corner.

Total Lunar Eclipse

Tonight at about 9:00, weather-permitting, look towards the east because the last total lunar eclipse for the next few years is going to be happening, and it will be visible throughout most of the country. The moon should look reddish-brown, quite a different look from the usual full moon. Let's hope that the clouds stay away long enough for this wonderful display of nature to be visible. I'm looking forward to it!

Writer's Block, Pt. IV

Catching cold #4 this winter has brought about a horrible side-effect: I have writer's block.
It's been amazing to me, though, how many students I've had out this year with colds and/or the flu. It's been several years since I've seen this many students gone, and I can't ever remember a year when I've still had quite a few students gone even this late in the year. If I can't get over this cold soon, next week's start to soccer season could be really tough.

Random Picture

I have nothing to say, so here is a random picture of a doorknob. Enjoy!

Republican Caucuses

Something rare in the history of Kansas happened today: the Republican party held a caucus. This is the first caucus in the past 20 years, which also makes it the first caucus I am old enough to participate in. Since I have never been to a caucus (I never went to the ones in Iowa while I was in college), I thought I'd take the short trip over to the Expocenter to take part in this unique process.
The crowds were large. Heritage Hall was nearly full when I arrived at 9:15 am, so I went over to the overflow room. It was already almost full. By 9:30, it was standing-room-only, and the back half of the meeting room was opened up in order to accommodate the extra participants. I would estimate that somewhere between 750-1000 took part in the caucus here in Shawnee County. What the totals will be in other counties, I don't know.
The experience was fascinating, though, far more interesting than a sterile primary. People freely handed out campaign literature and proudly held up signs for their chosen candidate. Speakers officially representing Ron Paul and John McCain spoke, followed by a line of people unofficially speaking in favor of Mike Huckabee. Then, everyone voted. The speeches, though, made the event worthwhile, and I'll summarize my observations below.
Not surprisingly, each candidate's representatives stuck to one of several main themes, trying to play to the given audience. Ron Paul's representative emphasized that Rep. Paul never raised taxes, that he should be the choice because he was different, and that he was pro-life. The first and last points will go over well with the generally conservative Kansas Republicans. McCain's representative emphasized his electability, his foreign policy experience, and his right-to-life stance. Huckabee's supporters took two different tracks. The first couple emphasized his religious convictions, while the remainder basically touted his support of the FAIR tax, a national sales tax.

Best speech: Senator Sam Brownback (no surprise) urged people to vote for John McCain because of his electability. Senator Brownback is a gifted speaker, and he also had the best quip of the event when he said, tongue in cheek, "There is no perfect presidential candidate in the race. I've already dropped out." Still, I agree with Senator Brownback that McCain may be the only candidate in the field that stands a chance in the general election. Moderate voters are not going to look favorably on Huckabee's conservative values, and I fear that the Democratic party's mudslinging/propoganda machine would have a heyday making Huckabee look like a backwards, far-right extremist.

Worst speech: One of the speakers in favor of Huckabee said that he was voting for him because "Huckabee was a man of God" and that "Huckabee is God's man for the job." A speech like that is going to do more harm than good both to Hucakbee's cause and to the cause of Christ. In fact, as this speaker made his first statement, one of the guys behind me whispered to the man next to him, "Can't stand those Christians--they're so intolerant." And really, the guy speaking did make a fool of himself. He came off sounding unintelligent and unthinking as well as clueless about politics and about the candidate he claimed to support. He gave no logical reasons that Huckabee would best make the next President other than that he shared this man's religious beliefs. I wonder what the speaker would have thought of Jimmy Carter?

Least well-received speech: A nun speaking in favor of John McCain went on an emotional tirade against current U.S. policy of arresting and fining illegal immigrants. "We're a nation of immigrants," she argued (ignoring the fact that most of our ancestors came here legally). "Who's going to pick our vegetables and work all the low-paying jobs?" she demanded, presenting the classic false dilemma argument that "illegal-immigrant rights" supporters use far too frequently. The effect of illegal immigrants on the U.S. economy is far more complex than the taking of the low-end jobs that no Americans want, a claim that I dispute as being valid, anyway. It's not a simple either-or proposition. I could sense that the majority of the crowd wanted to shout her down but out of respect, thankfully, did not do so.

Prediction for Kansas: It's too close to call. I think that John McCain, bolstered by the moderate voting blocks in the KC Metro area could edge out Mike Huckabee, especially if areas like Manhattan/Junction City/Fort Riley value McCain's foreign policy ability over Huckabee's more conservative credentials. That could change, however, if Sedgewick County (Wichita) goes for Huckabee in incredibly large numbers. Senator Brownback's support of McCain may not have swayed enough Kansans away from Huckabee. My sense is that many Kansas Republicans simply do not like McCain's moderate stances on several issues, especially illegal immigration.

Prediction for National Primary Results: McCain will win the Republican nomination. He has a solid lead, and while many conservative states will back Huckabee, the moderate states will swing McCain's direction (along with a few conservative ones) to give him the overall nomination. Honestly, I hope McCain does get it. He is the best hope of keeping the Democrats out of the White House, a fate that could have tragic consequences for America. My reasons for saying that, however, belong to another post on another day.

Snowfall in Topeka

So, my forecast of 3-6 inches turned out to be a little off. I had 8.5 inches of snow here at my house in the heart of Topeka. This winter has turned out to be one of the snowiest in recent memory. I certainly am more aware of the snow this year, since I have to shovel everything out every time it falls. The good news about getting about 8 inches of snow is that school was canceled for the day. It was nice to sleep in and get some stuff taken care of without having to feel rushed or pressured. A few pictures of the snow and my measurements of it can be seen here.

A Sign That I Need More Sleep

I guess I need more sleep, because I had to fight laughing in Sunday School today after I heard the first part of this little exchange.
Teacher: "Potiphar's wife was very beautiful."
Person in class: "She also carried a lot of weight" [at which point I started laughing] "being the wife of a high ranking official."
So, nothing funny about it; the comment makes perfect sense. But I clearly did not hear it correctly.

Why Education Methods Class Have a Bad Reputation

A quotation taken directly my mathematics methods book, which shall remain nameless to protect the guilty:
"Before we can discuss what problem solving is, we must first come to grips with what is meant by a problem."
Yes, this book, in discussing how to teach problem solving, spends about a quarter of page (and a couple hundred words) to define what a problem is in mathematics. This bothers me for two reasons. First, given that it is a college-level textbook, is it really necessary to define a problem? Second, if defining problem is necessary, is it worth spending a quarter of a page to define what could have been handled in two sentences?
And teachers wonder why they aren't treated with the same level of respect as engineers and doctors...

Expelled

I ran across the site for an interesting documentary that is coming out this April: Expelled. This documentary, hosted by Ben Stein, examines how the scientific community is treating those of its members who question Darwinian evolution. I'll you to explore the website on your own if you're curious about some of the details. One story, though, particularly disturbed me, since my alma mater is involved.
The full story can be found here. To summarize: Iowa State University has denied tenure to a professor of Physics and Astronomy (Guillermo Gonzalez) for co-authoring a book called The Privileged Planet. He never taught this material in class, and all of his work was first-rate. Yet, he was denied tenure for "unsatisfactory progress." Based on the evidence that I have seen, it appears that Iowa State is attempting to silence scientific inquiry out some of sort of fear of mixing science with religion.
(Note to ISU President Geoffory: Any hope you might have had of me supporting Iowa State University has been shot to pieces. I will not support an institution that works to quash scientific debate by denying high quality scientists tenure. I would have expected something like that from the University of Iowa, but certainly I thought ISU would be more fair-minded.)
So, when this documentary comes out, go visit it, and take your friends, evolutionist and non-evolutionist. The whole point of the documentary--and the goal of Intelligent Decision scientists, I might add--is to re-examine and debate ideas that we once thought were correct and now may well be wrong. Isn't that what we're supposed to do in science? I guess that's only true as long as we stay away from anything that suggests we humans are not the ultimate beings in the universe...

Random Sketch

I had a very strange dream the other night, a story fragment, as most of them are. I had a little time, so I thought I'd try to turn it into a short scene. This is still very much a rough draft and probably far too wordy, still. Read on and enjoy, if you wish.

Anyone roaming the castle hallways on that dark night would have seen nothing, not even the shadows of the three ogres who stole through the darkness. They tried to move stealthily, and, being ogres, they were not entirely successful. They ran into each other, stepped on each others’ toes, and whispered nasty ogres curses at each other. Yet most of the castle slept, so the minor thuds of ogre footfalls and the harsh whisper of ogre voices failed to arouse any alarm.
As they bumbled down the hallway, they neared a chamber out of which came the noise of a party. The ogres hesitated, fearful of the door opening and light from the chamber exposing them. The remembered the warning written on the potion’s bottle: invisible only as long as not being struck by light.
Grugg moved first. He cautiously stepped forward. No sooner had he done so than one of the late-night revelers opened the door, spilling light into the hallway. For a brief moment, Anwern and Prugink could see Grugg’s head, seemingly floating in mid-air. Grugg quickly backed out of the light, desperately hoping he had not been seen.
Out of the doorway staggered the party-goer. The door closed behind him, and he rambled down the hall in a direction away from the ogres. He did not notice Grugg’s head floating in air for the brief moment that it was visible. If he had looked after the door had closed, he would have seen nothing.
After an interminable wait, Grugg turned behind him and whispered, “All right. He’s gone. Come on, you slugs.” He took a few steps forward before he noticed that no one followed. Retracing his steps, he drew near a doorless, dark chamber. From inside came the sound of metal bending, followed by the pop of a wooden lid being forced open. The cacophony of gold coins being spilled on the floor echoed out into the hallway.
Before Grugg could say anything, the light of carried torches began to appear on the walls at the far end of the hallway. The guards knew that someone unwelcome was inside the castle.

Sad, Yet Ironic

While I don't wish to make light of something as tragic as this, there is just something ironic about it. Read the story here.

Political Ponderings

I have wondered for weeks why Sam Brownback, a conservative Republican, endorsed the more moderate John McCain for President. It seems that McCain's political views would be at odds with Brownback's own. A recent analysis I read from Bob Beatty (found here at the Topeka Capital-Journal Online) perhaps partially explains Brownback's endorsement. In the piece, Beatty points out that nationally, McCain is the only Republican candidate who has favorable numbers against Obama and Clinton, the two Democrat front-runners. Now, I am not a huge fan of McCain's politics, and I am not huge on the idea of him being President. But I am even less in favor of one of the Democrats in office. I really don't want higher taxes, a bigger government, and disastrous social values. That is, after all, part of why the current Republican regime has frustrated me so much: they've spent like Democrats.
So, given that he appears to be the most likely candidate to win a general election, McCain is getting a second look from me. I'll need to do a little more digging before I am convinced that I can comfortably support him. I know, though, that I would rather support him than Obama, and I would rather live in Myanmar than vote for Clinton. It will be interesting to see if McCain can win the Republican nomination. Now, if only the process would start a couple of months later so I don't have to deal with all of this for NINE MORE MONTHS! >:-(

A Modest Grammatical Proposal

In the past 30 years or so, some people have taken objection to the use of the "generic he" in the English language. The result is that "Everyone needs to get out his book" has become turned into the ungrammatical "Everyone get out their book." The first construction, while grammatically correct, offends some people. Many opt for the second construction, but it is grammatically incorrect, since everyone is singular and their is a plural pronoun. So far, no attempted remedy has met with the satisfaction of everyone in society, so I would like to following modest proposal for fixing this potentially offensive quirk in the English language.
Instead of using simply "he" or simply "she" (or worse, yet, some "/" combination such as he/she or s/he), I propose that we create a new pronoun for use whenever both genders should be included in the pronoun. This pronoun, in its basic form, will be called "Shim" (a combination of she and him). This pronoun would have the following forms:
Subject: Shim (Example: As Mr. Jones talked to each teacher, he found that shim was intelligent, loving, and sanitary.)
Object: Shim (Example: As a teacher, shim found it was hard to have students talking to shim.)
Possessive: Shis (Example: Shim went to the store to go get shis favorite food.)
Reflexive: Shimself (Example: Shim went to the store to get shimself some of shis favorite food.)
Alternative possessive: Shine (Example: Whose food is this? It could be shine!)
With this new construct, hopefully we will finally solve the incessant war between the angry feminists who feel oppressed by standard English grammar and the traditionalists. It may take a while for it to catch one, but I think it has quite a bit of potential. I invite each of my readers to submit shis comments.

Day 2 of Week 2 of the Sprint through Early January

So, I'm a day behind my usual blogging schedule, which should give you some idea of how busy everything is for me right now. I really don't have much to say because I have a bunch of projects that all hit at once. Once this week is over, then, Lord willing, things will quiet down, and I'll get to enjoy life without being tired. :-) For now, it's time to go to sleep. I'm exhausted.

Rant: Constructivism -- Bah! Humbug!

Three long busy days after a busy week have left me in the mood for a rant.
As a part of my Masters degree, I am taking a course in mathematics instruction methods (to make up a deficiency). I just read the first chapter today, and already I'm seeing constructivism show up in the readings (and it's not the first time it's showed up in readings for educational classes).
<rant>What is it with math teachers and constructivism? In every way constructivism (which is just relativistic humanism applied to psychology) contradicts the foundational principles on which mathematics is based! Using constructivism in math is what yielded so much of the poor quality mathematics reforms of the 1990s, such as "Let students figure it out on their own" (even though they lack the background knowledge and desire to do so) and "There are no wrong answers" (which last time I checked, wasn't true, either). No wonder we are so far behind in mathematics education when we're too busy adhering to a philosophy that is so contrary to reality!</rant>

Perelandra

I was going to write about my theory of relationships, but I decided to wait on that. I need to find my previous thoughts on the matter and use them as a template. Instead, I want to comment on one of my favorite CS Lewis books: Perelandra.
In Perelandra, a man from Earth by the name of Elwin Ransom is sent to Venus (called Perelandra by its inhabitants) for what are initially unknown reasons. He soon finds himself in a battle with another Terran, a battle which will decide whether Perelandra will avoid the Fall that its cousin planet, Earth, experienced.
One of the interesting aspects of the book is how Lewis (through Perelandra) pictures what an ideal Earth would have been like. In Perelandra, the humans are to the animals what God is to us: He loves and cares for us and wants to see us become as much like Him as we can. The goal of the King and Queen (the first sentient Perelandrans) likewise is to make the animals of Perelandra as much like humans as possible.
If Lewis is correct in his thinking, then it would explain why we humans tend to anthropomorphize animals so easily. It also explains our propensity for pets. There could be some residual memory of our original Edenic calling to take care of the animals and make them more like us.
It's certainly an interesting thought, one that had never occurred to me before reading Perelandra.

Thoughts on Bowls

Bowl season is (mercifully) winding down. The few games I've seen have been anything but interesting: Missouri blowing out Arkansas; Oklahoma getting hammered by West Virginia. Tonight's Orange Bowl could be very interesting. And it presents a dilemma for me: whom to root for. On the one hand, I am anything but a KU fan, having grown up as a K-State fan most of my life. One the other hand, KU is representing the Big XII Conference (which could use a quality win after Oklahoma's embarrassing loss last night) and the state of Kansas as well. It's hard not to cheer for them when they're the last remaining conference team to play and when a KU win would mean the Conference would at least come away with a winning record. So, I'm not sure what to do about that. Maybe I'll be a mostly neutral observer.
On a side note, I was looking at a list of bowls for this year. I didn't realize that there was a bowl game in Toronto (the International Bowl). I wonder what the NCAA rules are about playing college games outside the country...

My 2007 in Review

The Christmas cards from friends and family got me thinking. I haven't ever written a "Christmas letter" type summary of my year. So, I thought I'd give it a try on my blog. If you aren't interested in this sort of thing, that's fine. You can stop reading now and wait for the next post, probably on Wednesday. (Caveat: I don't normally think in calendar years, so I won't reference much from the first part of the year simply because to me it was "last year." For me, the new year begins the week before school starts.)
Major events of 2007
1. Buying a house. Motivated by the rapidly decaying condition of the apartment complex I lived in, I was able, by God's grace and help from my family, to find an affordable house here in town. The month-long sprint that was the process ended in early July when I finally took possession of the house and moved in--for one day. The next day saw me off to Sioux Center for three weeks. [A huge thank you, by the way, to my friends the Catlins as well as my entire family for helping me move into my house. And a second thank you to my family for re-doing my bathroom while I was gone. I still love it six months later!]
2. Starting classes for a Masters degree. The three weeks in Sioux Center (and indeed, the two months of preparation work) were the most stressful weeks of my entire year. The work was intense and detailed, although I enjoyed it. By the end of three weeks, though, I was ready to leave and start living in my house.
3. CPLS Graduation in May. It was a privilege to watch a class of 29 seniors take their final walk across the stage. This class and I have a long history: some of the students have had to put up with me as a coach and/or teacher since they were in 7th grade. It was a bittersweet yet joyous moment for me. To see these kids begin to take flight on their own after all the years of working with them was wonderful.
4. Running in the first CPLS 5K in August. I've always been (and probably will be) more of a sprinter than a distance runner, but I decided to try the 5K that the school sponsored. I finished in exactly 24 minutes, not exactly fast, but for me a great time. And the extra endurance that I gained from training for the race certainly made refereeing easier.
5. School Tour (to New York). For the second time in 6 years at Cair Paravel, I was able to go with the juniors and seniors as the traveled to New York City for a week. It was great to travel one last time with both classes.
6. Visiting Ames. On my way down from Dordt to Topeka, I made a side trip over to Ames. It was good to see all of my old friends one more time, and as nostalgic as always to roam the campus of Iowa State.

Normal events of 2007
1. Teaching. What else? I am truly grateful to God that I get to do what I do. I can't imagine doing anything else. Cair Paravel is a great place to be, and I enjoy the privilege of working with the students. I could go on for hours....
2. Coaching. I spent this year as an assistant coach for both the boys' and girls' teams. Like teaching, coaching is tiring work, but it is a chance to interact with my students outside of class, making teaching them in class easier. The girls' team won the inaugural Kansas Christian Athletic Association girls' tournament in the Spring. The boys came close this Fall, taking second after an exciting championship game.
3. Refereeing. It's my excuse to get out and run while still getting paid for it. This year, I did a few high school games and enjoyed doing that. There's nothing like a little refereeing to give one practice in handling irate people. :-)
4. Bible Study. I am part of a multi-generational study that meets weekly (for the most part). It's a blessing to be able to sit in there and learn from people older and wiser than myself. I also hosted a small (very small; we need to find more guys) single men's Bible study at my house.
5. Scholars' Bowl. Our 2007-2008 team took first place in our classification at one tournament. We also participated in another. The team had a lot of fun at both tournaments, no matter if we won or lost. This coming calendar year promises to be the most active ever in the history of Scholars' Bowl at CPLS: we are headed to two more high school tournaments and hosting a small high school tourney of our own, not to mention the two middle school tournaments that we're hoping to do in February.

As always, God has shown Himself faithful in my life in many ways. I know that I could not survive a year of teaching without His grace. It is simply too demanding a job, and I would burn out, becoming the ultimate grumpy teacher. From financial provision (tuition for graduate school, help with the down payment on the house) to the blessing of being able to spend time with my family over breaks, God constantly provided what was needed when it was needed. Soli Deo gloria!
Thanks for reading! May God make your 2007 a year of great joy and of knowing Him more deeply!

What Day Is It?

The joy (burden?) of being on a break from teaching is that one often forgets what day it is. Such is the case with me right now. I only knew that yesterday was Saturday because my computer told me so. To be honest, I would have had no clue as to which day of the week it was otherwise. I'm pretty sure I skipped a day last week (not sure which one, but one seems to be missing from my recollection). Of course, being sick and trying to rest isn't exactly a memory-making experience.
Off to other adventures now.

And More Snow!

If the forecast holds, Topeka could see another 2-4 inches of snow on top of the 9 that fell last weekend. This is one of the snowiest Decembers that I remember, and I'm not looking forward to shoveling it. Still, the snow makes for beautiful scenes, like on Christmas Eve, when it was so bright (thanks to a full moon), that everything was casting shadows. It gave everything a serene, peaceful appearance. That probably won't be quite the case with this snowfall, since the moon is now waning.

Snow!

Yesterday was a record setting day for Topeka snowfall, at least for the date. The official NWS tally of snowfall, 9 inches, was the highest snowfall total recorded on 12/22 in the history of the climate records. (Admittedly, these are only about 100 years old. I'm sure that sometime in the past 4000 years, there's been a bigger snowfall, but no one bothered to record it...) Here at my house, I had 7 inches of accumulated snow, although it was deeper in places thanks to drifting.
I was initially surprised that Silver Bells was postponed, but once I went out last night about 8:30 p.m. to clear off my driveway, I realized that it was a brilliant decision. I spent about an hour outside, and I only made it a 1/4 of the way down my driveway. I went back out this morning and spent another 45 minutes digging myself out so I could make it to church. The last time I saw this much snow, I was in Ames, IA, going to college. The last time I saw this much snow in Kansas was probably when I was a teenager in Lawrence. It's an amazing and beautiful thing to see. And the thunder was a nice addition. It's quite a rare thing to have thunder snow, and we did yesterday. Really cool!

Rant: Time and Date Errors

I'm just feeling the need to go "Andy Rooney" for a minute:
There are several common mistakes that people make with dates and times that are either slightly annoying or slightly amusing to me, depending on the mistake.
One is what I call the "noon problem." It seems that many of us have forgotten whether noon is 12 a.m. or 12 p.m. Consider the following statement, "The store will be open on Christmas Eve from 8-12 a.m." Now, I think we all know what that means. The store will be open from 8 a.m. until noon. However, that's not what the statement says. Noon is not 12 a.m. Midnight is. Noon is 12 p.m. So, the statement is really saying that the store will be open from 8 a.m. until midnight on Christmas Eve. I don't think those hours are going to be popular with most of the staff....
While the "noon problem" is more amusing than annoying, the "misplaced year modifier problem" is more annoying than amusing because it shows an ignorance of how our calendar system is set up. The problem manifests itself something like this: "He was born in 5 B.C. and died in 50 A.D." The problem? Our calendar system was set up in such a way that the split between B.C. and A.D. is the year of the birth of Jesus Christ. (Now, the guy who calculated the year was off by about 5 years, but hey, cut him some slack. He did the best he could with what he had.) B.C., thus, stands for "Before Christ," and A.D. stands for "Anno Domini," which is Latin "Year of our Lord." B.C. modifies the year by sitting after the number, e.g. 5 B.C. means 5 years Before Christ. A.D., however, modifies the year by sitting before the number, e.g. A.D. 50 means in the Year of our Lord (number) 50. It doesn't make much sense to put it the other way, e.g. 50 A.D., since that would mean 50 in the year of our Lord. When thought of that way, the second options is quite confusing. 50 what? And what year, precisely is this "Year of our Lord?" Sadly, we no longer teach the meaning of the phrase A.D., and so it has wound up misplaced after the year instead of before.
Of course, there are some, primarily historians, who realize full well what B.C. and A.D. stand for. They seem uncomfortable with this knowledge, however, and that leads to a third "error," one that is particularly infuriating to me. Here's how it works. In an effort to remove any references to Christ from their calendars, some historians call every date that would normally be designated "A.D." as "C.E." meaning "Common Era" or "Christian Era." Likewise, "B.C." becomes "B.C.E." or "Before Common Era." The numbering stays the same. Now, hopefully, you're seeing the absurdity of this. The dividing point, the birth year (albeit slightly miscalculated) of Jesus Christ, is still the same. But the reference to the cause of the dividing line has been removed. It's like people were afraid that if they used references to Jesus as a real, historical person that they might actually have to believe in Him.
It's also intellectually disingenuous for two reasons. First, there's no such thing as "Common Era" because many cultures use different calendars with different starting and ending dates. Secondly, the "Christian Era" could not begin at A.D. 1 because "Christians" did not really exist, yet. (Christ would only have been about 6 at the time and wouldn't have had too many disciples.) The "Christian Era" probably should not be held to begin until later, perhaps as late as Constantine's "Edict of Milan" in A.D. 313. So, the whole point of the designations is not for some valid historical reason; rather, it's simply an attempt to avoid the references to Christ in the year naming system. Yet this point is not acknowledge by proponents of the system. They somehow feel more "enlightened" for having removed from their system the reference to its origin in the first place.
So, the next time you plan on sending the e-mail out about your Christmas party, be sure to say that it runs "From 7 p.m. to 12 a.m." (not 7 p.m. to 12 p.m. That would be one long party!) and that it is on "December 21, A.D. 2007" (not 2007 A.D.). And please, don't even dare try to say, "2007 C.E." Somehow, the idea of a Christmas party in a year designated "C.E." just seems a little too much like mockery to me.
End of rant.

Colds! Bah, Humbug!

So, two weeks ago, I lost my voice thanks to a cold. I had just gotten over it, and then I manage to catch another one. This one, thanks be to God, has left my voice alone, but I've been coughing for three days, now. It's not fun. I can't remember the last time I've been sick for this long. Last year, I caught nothing. Not so this year. :-(

Winter Is Here

Astronomically, winter starts on December 21. In terms of the weather conditions, though, winter started with the early-season snow last week and the ice storm this week. And it looks like winter is going to get into full swing with a significant snowfall in the forecast for this weekend. The current official forecasts call for 5-7 inches of snow in Topeka. That will certainly make things wintry. Of course, I'm supposed to be helping family move to town Saturday morning. Could be a bit difficult if the snow falls as predicted. We shall see. Accurately forecasting snow accumulation is quite difficult. Still, it will be nice to have snow this time around instead of ice. Perhaps it will even linger for a week and give us a "White Christmas."

Prince Caspian Trailer...I'm Concerned

I've just watched the first trailer for the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and I have to say that overall it looks like it will be an interesting movie. Unfortunately, it also looks like it's going to deviate from the book (and embellish) on it far more than The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe did. There are several little hints I saw that concern me, but I'm not going to mention any of them. I'm going to take a "wait and see" attitude regarding this movie. Hopefully, it won't deviate as much as I'm concerned that it will.

"Ice" of You to Drop By

By this time tomorrow night, NE Kansas could be in the grip of a serious ice storm. Warm air aloft and cold air near the surface could combine (potentially) to produce a serious freezing rain event. That much is well known. The Weather Service does a great job in sending out warnings about this sort of event.
What's not in the forecast, though, is the amount of uncertainty regarding what actually will happen. Some systems are easy to predict. Some are not. This system is proving slightly problematic. A small error in the forecasted direction of the upper air disturbance will result in far less ice or far more snow to the region. Surface temperatures also could sneak over the freezing mark, turning a potentially dangerous event into a cold gullywasher.
That being said, taking precautions is certainly wise. If this system does indeed progress as the forecast models predict, we could be in a for a long couple of days. I'm praying that it doesn't and that God will be merciful to us in this situation. Please join me in praying.

Cold

A few random thoughts on the word "cold" (because I have nothing else to say right now)
I have a cold.
It's cold outside.
I'm not used to this cold, yet.
Cold is a strange word if you stop and think about it.
Wouldn't frío be much better?
I just has that onomatopoeic sound to it, like someone trying to talk while cold.

Veni Veni Emmanuel

With December here, cold air descending on Topeka (albeit only for a day), and the season of Advent beginning, it is time to turn to thoughts of Christmas. I have tried as hard as I can to avoid Christmas related music and decorating until Advent starts. It's sort of my way of "rebelling" against our culture that seems to feel the need for Christmas to start the day after Thanksgiving (or even right after Halloween). With Advent now here, my Christmas lights are now turned one and my Christmas tree is now up (much to the delight of my cat). My thoughts now can slowly turn towards the joyous birth of our Lord and Savior in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago.
Sadly, though, as I've gotten older, Christmas has ceased to be my favorite holiday. I know that there are people that just seem to love this holiday more than any other, who could listen to Christmas carols year round and have their lights on perpetually. To me, though, Christmas has lost a lot of its wonder, thanks to the secular and materialist emphases that our culture has placed on it. (If I hear one more commercial hawking products using "Carol of the Bells," I think I'll go crazy.) Christmas is supposed to be about celebrating the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, which is a wonderful and joyous event. It is an appropriate time to give gifts. Yet our society wants to have the joy without the Source. The result is so saccharine that I can hardly take it.
So, while strangely dressed gnomes sing carols to try to get me to buy GPS systems that I neither need nor want, I'm going to content myself with singing the centuries old refrain "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." Amen, come Lord Jesus. And save us from our own folly.

Global Warming Fueling Major Hurricanes? No So Fast!

For the second year in a row, hurricane forecasters have missed the mark (albeit barely) on their forecast for the number and intensity of hurricanes for this year. The forecasters had predicted 7-9 hurricanes, 3 of them Category 3 or better. However, only 6 hurricanes formed, 2 of them major (both Category 5). Now, while this prediction is closer to reality than last year's very off forecast, it is still below what the more alarmist members of the media are trying to tell us will happen. A lot of factors go into hurricane formation, the available energy is the only one. Clearly, the atmosphere is far more complex than any of us can understand, and we should not be surprised if our initial forecasts are off. God has made this world wonderfully complex and yet also surprisingly simple. And above all, he remains in control and will do what pleases Him.

Adventures in Lighting

So, with being a first-year homeowner comes the adventure of trying to decorate the house some for Christmas. Now, I was going to wait until Saturday to put up lights on the outside of my house. My motivation for waiting was primarily the tendency of our society to jump right to Christmas right after Thanksgiving. I can't stand that. I can't take Christmas that long. I'll be fine to start it once the liturgical season of Advent starts this coming Sunday. Thus the motivation for putting my lights up this Saturday. Then I saw the forecast for Saturday. It's not going to be light hanging weather. Besides, by God's mercy and grace, my dad happened to be in town today on some errands, so he swung early this evening with a ladder, and I hung my lights. It was a bit of an adventure because I've never hung lights at this house before, and I didn't have any lights to hang.
So, I went out and bought some, but there are innumerable varieties of lights out there, including some that will calculate and file your 2008 income tax for you. I settled for 3 sets of basic mini-lights. Then, I had to drive all over Topeka trying to find the right kind of hangers. I finally found what I was looking for at a hardware store in north Topeka. Everywhere else was out.
Once I got the hangers, with my dad's help and a little bit of ladder work, I was able to get the lights up relatively quickly. I'll turn them on Saturday night when I do my interior Christmas decorating. And enjoy the fact that I'm not putting lights up will sleet and freezing rain are falling.

Lesson from the Garden

Hear now the story of
The wise Gardener
He plants the flowers and shrubs
With great care and love

With purpose He selects
Buds, seeds, bushes, trees
To make an arrangement
Glorious to see

Some walk by the display
In lovely springtime
See the beauteous blooming
And think they've seen best

Others look at His choice
Of type and color
With a jeer and a sneer
They harshly say ill

"Flowers that bloom too late
Are killed by the frost
Roses that bud too soon
Are lost to the cold"

Rare is the passerby
Who pauses to see
The autumnal beauty
Of the late bloomers

Yellow lilacs mixing
With red fallen leaves
English roses shining
Beneath reddened trees

Bushes of burgundy
Amidst fallen gold
Shrubs of pink and purple
Beneath dropping oaks

Few stop to take notice
Yet the Gardener
Sees and smiles as His plan
Unfolds exactly

Late plants shining brightly
Together lovely
Bringing color ere cold
Sends them all to rest

Raking Leaves after Sunset

The last week was very busy for me, so I didn't have any time during daylight hours to rake the leaves that have been covering my front lawn. So, with frigid weather forecast for today, I spent two hours yesterday raking leaves in the darkness, with only my front porch light to help me see. It was actually not as unpleasant as I had expected. By the grace of God, the winds were nearly calm most of the time, allowing the leaves to stay where I piled them and my trash bags to stay open. It was a more enjoyable experience than I expected it to be. Thanks be to God for a cool night, calm winds, and an iPod!

Thankful for Thanksgiving

It's been a while since I've felt like this. Between this past week and refereeing most of the day yesterday, I am exhausted. It will be by the grace of God alone that I am able to teach successfully these next two days. I need a break, no matter how short. Somehow, I hit a wall last week. I don't know what it was, but suddenly, I have felt that I'm just walking through some sort of morass. Maybe it's the switch to Standard Time; maybe it's something else. I don't know. All I know is that while I enjoy teaching and I love my students, I still need a break to be able to be the teacher that they deserve. Thanksgiving is coming at the perfect time.

Writer's Block, Pt. III

Writer's block is a piece of wood. It is rectangular, about 2 inches tall by 4 inches wide by 1 inch deep. Thank you; good night.

And Suddenly, I Have Nothing to Say

I knew it was going to happen again, eventually. After that sequence of quizzes over The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, I am out of ideas right now about what to write.
I think I'll go out on a long run here soon. The weather is simply too nice to stay inside, even with the windows open.

LWW Quiz 20

Here's the final installment of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe quizzes.
39. Who walks into the room right after the children fall back out of the wardrobe?
a. Mrs. Macready
b. No one
c. The Professor
d. Mr. Pevensie

40. To whom does the Professor say that going back to Narnia through the Wardrobe won’t be possible?
a. Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy
b. Peter and Edmund
c. Susan and Lucy
d. Lucy

LWW Quiz 19

Sorry it's a day late. Here's the penultimate quiz.

37. Who says that Aslan is not a tame lion?
a. Peter
b. Mr. Tumnus
c. Edmund
d. Mr. Beaver

38. What is the name of Edmund’s horse?
a. Phillip
b. Jonathan
c. Mr. Ed
d. We don’t know