Oh Seven Oh Eight Oh Nine

In the spirit of mathematics... of sorts...

• Fourth of July + family + Lexington + fireworks over the lake + small town parade + A-10 warthog + 3 sky divers + music in the park + Firehouse pancake breakfast + sun + jet ski + jet boat + tubing = FABULOUS weekend with a side of sunburn ;)
• new bike + new roads + new cycling shorts + ending work by noon = major training for a [team] triathlon with the sibs. The countdown to July 25th is passing all to quickly.
• Susan + Becky + weekend+ road trip to IN = DMS wedding! Emily and Rebekah have already tied the knot this summer. This Saturday it's Erin's turn! :)

Highlights from the classroom...

• Man, what if we saw Miss H rollin' through da 'hood tonight?
• Dang, she's got eyes like a hawk! I didn't even see that!
• Alright guys, label your paper "Session 1" and please write the date in the upper right hand corner. Today is July 8th. That's right 07/08/09. All day long. Write it on all your papers. Enjoy!

After work tomorrow summer school will be 40% over. Whew! Time is flying by!

Hello July

Goodness gracious it's been awhile!

The school year ended splendidly. Argyll Relays (and all other track meets) ran along smoothly and, as usual, were highly entertaining and enjoyable. Particularly when a non-hurdler enters a hurdle relay event. She may have looked like a dear prancing over those foreign hurdles. Coach Cooper and I were definitely doubled over in hysterical laughter!

I attended Madison-Grant commencement and had the distinct honor and pleasure of watching my seniors graduate. I also went to Taylor University's commencement and watched my once-freshmen cross that stage with pride and dignity. It's hard to believe they were my little froshies when I was DA once upon a time.

Following TU graduation, Kirstin spent the next 2 weeks at my apartment before we went to the Tabb-Brooks wedding the first weekend of June. It was an absolutely gorgeous morning wedding. Kirstin and I were able to return to my apartment, pack up a few things, and drive home that evening. We arrived home shortly before midnight on Saturday. Sunday the whole family went to church and then out to lunch at Kruse and Muer to celebrate mom's birthday.

We had one lovely week together during which Tim had to study for finals. That Friday he finished his junior year and we took a drive down to Sterling Heights to pick up my new BIKE! It's a beautiful Trek hybrid that I look forward to breaking in on Michigan roads this summer. The grand finale is planned to be the triathlon in Lexington at the end of July. :)

Dad and I drove Tim down to Taylor for CRAM, a summer honors program, the day after he finished school. He is enjoying his time immensely and, as far as I can tell, dreading coming home tomorrow night. Don't worry bud, you can go back for real next August.

Two weekends ago I flew out to DC to see my college roommate and visit the city for the first time. Saturday began with a rain shower so we started our DC 'tour' with a visit to the Museum of American History. The rain cleared shortly after noon so we spent an hour or so at the Washington Monument and WWII memorial. It was wonderful to see such famous sites in person. After washing up at Rach's apartment, we spent the evening walking the scenic sidewalks of King Street, eating a Thai dinner, and enjoying the traditional cup of Starbucks.

I moved (temporarily) to Kalamazoo last Sunday afternoon. Last week I had in-service training for teaching summer school which began this week. Directly after my training on Tuesday the entire Jevert family and I left for a Tigers and Cubs game at Comerica Park. The whole evening was a phenomenal blast! We sat behind home plate and had an absolutely marvelous view! The Jeverts had even made shirts for the occasion. We had half blue half orange shirts with both the Tigers and Cubs logos respectively. The comments received were priceless!

Last weekend Susan and I drove out to Lexington to spend the weekend at the lake with my mom, dad, and sister. We were incredibly thankful for a perfect Saturday! After a nice cruise to and from Port Sanilac we drifted out past the Lexington harbor entrance for a while trying to find a shipwreck and just jumping off the boat into the refreshingly cold water. :) Sunday began with a rainstorm but, after breakfast and a walk on the break wall, all cleared. A few jet boat rides, lunch, and one shower later we were back on the road for Kalamazoo.

Beyond that, this week has been fairly uneventful. Last night we had a girl's movie night complete with hamburgers on the grill and "Confessions of a Shopaholic". Tomorrow ends my workweek and, once again, I head out to Lexington. Fourth of July weekend is always full of many family traditions. Friday is fireworks night, Saturday is the annual fourth of July parade and that evening is Music in the Park, Sunday concludes the weekend with the fireman's pancake breakfast at the fire department in town. :) As long as it doesn't rain all weekend I think everything will turn out just fabulously! Hooray for Family Time! :D

Coach H High Jumps

Indiana finally saw some dry days this week. We had gorgeous weather for our meet on Tuesday and bearable rain for yesterday's Junior High Madison County Meet. Tonight the rain held off long enough for Brianna to come over from Taylor and hold a 'high jump clinic' for some of our jumpers. It proved to be quite the profitable event for our athletes. Afterwards Brianna and I hung around for about an extra hour so we could work one-on-one. Yes, she is teaching me how to high jump. She is a spectacular teacher. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for her student. :P After multiple stretches, drills and runthroughs I was finally confident enough to jump. It took multiple attempts, but this evening I cleared 4'. Throughout my high jump attempts in middle and high school I never quite managed to clear the bar. This evening I changed that statistic. Now for 4'2"...

After spectacular skies for practice, the rain is finally falling- and falling hard! I heard the thunder begin to roll through a bit ago and opened up my porch door to watch the storm approach. Dark clouds thickened across the sky as the lightning spidered down with increased frequency. The rain began falling in fat scattered drops. I left my door open. The strong cool breeze brings the intense feeling of spring through the screen door, even if it does mean a few splatters find their way onto the carpet and my legs as I sit here. :)

Tomorrow night we host Argyll Relays. I fear the ground might be a tad damp. :P As long as it's not raining cats and dogs I think I shall be quite content. By this point I've gathered enough tricks to keep me [mostly] dry in respectable, non-horizontal, precipitation.

April Showers

Sometimes my heart just breaks.
Sitting by the hospital bed of a dear friend will do that to one.

I don't have answers.
But God is sovereign.
I have no choice but to trust- in everything.

Update from NC

Under all usual circumstances I would usually refrain from apologizing for neglecting to update within the past month. February saw only two posts and this is the first for March. I dare say that is quite a sad predicament. I don't have any grand rationale for such an event but can simply say that life got the better of me yet again.

Forgive me for not including all events of the past weeks in this entry, but I'd rather not bore you entirely. Yes, I'm resorting to another bullet point list. It's just slightly easier to organize short thoughts. And I don't feel like writing a novel this evening, although I feel that will happen regardless.

• Kirstin and I traveled home together about 3 or 4 weeks ago to see Tim swim in his Super League meet. He placed well in his individual 500, swam a personal best, but fell just 2 seconds short of the state cut. Although he was unable to swim the 500 at the state meet he did attend as an alternate for his team's relay. The prospect of year-round swim now lingers as he continues to chase that goal for next year's season.
• The February DMS reunion went as well as always- although it was a bit more low-key. Probably because Deal wasn't there to cause any trouble. ;)
• I began coaching the mid-distance/distance girls at the high school.
• We had our first [indoor] meet at IWU two weeks back.
• Amy, Deal, and I made pi day T-shirts and then ran a 5k race in downtown Indy last Sunday. It was great fun. Our shirts read "running 3.1 4 pi(e)". If you understand, I am infinitely proud of you. We even had dorky math jokes on the back. They were the best shirts ever. No joke.
• My precalculus classes celebrated pi day (a day early) with projects, songs, digit recitation, and pie consumption (naturally).
• We finished our 3rd 9 weeks marking period at school. I can hardly believe I'm 3/4 of the way through my 1st year teaching. June 2nd is the last scheduled day of class. Ridiculous.
• Hans is getting married the weekend following the conclusion of my school year. Woo hoo maddawg/jarhead reunion! :)
• Kirstin is currently in Florida enjoying spring break TUTF style in PCB. Hope you folks are enjoying TUTFPCBSB2K09 without me ;). (Use the clothespins!!)
• I am currently in NC with mom. This week is spring break for me- it feels slightly odd to have a designated spring break as a 'real person', but I'll take it. In no way am I complaining. We came out to visit her side of the family- my grandpa, aunt, uncle, and 5 younger cousins. I drove home to MI after work on Friday, left home early Saturday morning with mom and caught a 10am flight out of Detroit. We fly back tomorrow at 9am.
• After experiencing the true spring weather in Raleigh the past few days I am more than ready for that season to appear (and stay) in the Midwest. Seriously. 60 degrees is simply marvelous... at least for this time of the year.
• My fish (Euclid, Euler, and Gauss) came home to MI with me. Tim and dad have been caring for them while I'm gone. I feel slightly ridiculous carting them back and forth with me during that road trip between IN and MI, but they fare well enough- and it makes for an amusing story. :P
• For what it's worth- I enjoy vacuuming and find it strangely relaxing. I also like the lines the vacuum leaves in the carpet.
• I have to pack up the suitcase for tomorrow's travels. Being 'south' for a bit and taking in sweet tea has definitely fallen in line with my latest spring break travels. Returning to nasty northern weather tomorrow does not. Unfortunate but true.

Because I tend to like math jokes...

An engineer, a chemist and a mathematician are staying in three adjoining cabins at an old motel. First the engineer's coffee maker catches fire. He smells the smoke, wakes up, unplugs the coffee maker, throws it out the window, and goes back to sleep.

Later that night the chemist smells smoke too. He wakes up and sees that a cigarette butt has set the trash can on fire. He says to himself, "Hmm. How does one put out a fire? One can reduce the temperature of the fuel below the flash point, isolate the burning material from oxygen, or both. This could be accomplished by applying water." So he picks up the trash can, puts it in the shower stall, turns on the water, and, when the fire is out, goes back to sleep.

The mathematician, of course, has been watching all this out the window. So later, when he finds that his pipe ashes have set the bed sheet on fire, he is not in the least taken aback. He says: "Aha! A solution exists!" and goes back to sleep.

Post 100

Ok, so it appears I've neglected this little space for a bit. So, over the past few weeks...

• We had our 6th snow day. M-G is now adding two days on to the end of the school year- current last day of school is June 2nd.
• I went home last weekend so see Tim swim in the county meet. It was only the second time this year I had to make the drive home alone. Kirstin usually travels with me- and does the majority of the driving.
• I began setting up a Moodle site for Pre-calc. :)
• Track pre-season conditioning started.
• I began running with the team.
• I became very sore.
• Track officially begins on Tuesday!
• We had an extraordinarily strong wind storm (?) on Wednesday. My windows were closed. I have shrink wrap over them (to keep the cold out) and my blinds were still rattling due to the force of the wind whipping around my apartment. Craziness.
• I'm not entirely tired of winter, but I am definitely more than ready for a little spring in my life.
• I really like not having to scrap my car out from under white or frozen-ness every morning.
• The cornfields turned into inland lakes due to all the flooding this week. It reminded me of the magnificent great lakes and how much I absolutely love them and cannot wait for the summer months to spend some time with them. ;) Oooohhh... water....
• I spent [the entire] Valentine's Day at IWU watching the TU track team (including my sister) compete.
• I baked a giant heart-shaped chocolate chip cookie for the track team, complete with M&Ms that spelled out 'TUTF' (Taylor University Track and Field). Thankfully it turned out wonderfully and was incredibly delicious.
• I realized it's still strange to be on the other side of graduation and not be running with what still seems to be 'my team'.
• Kirstin and I celebrated V-day together. We managed to grab a pizza after the meet before coming home (at 9 at night!), made rolo pretzels and ate them with some sparkling grape juice. We arrived at the take-and-bake pizzeria at 9:02. They closed at 9. Thankfully there were a few call-in orders that customers never came to claim. We were able to purchase one of those for a significantly reduced price. All we had to do was pick off the black olives when we got home.
• Kirstin spent the day with me today and we began some spring cleaning. Christmas and winter decorations (including all my seasonal coffee mugs :P) are packed away in the storage closet. The card table serving as my computer table found a new home in the corner of the family room. It even has a spring-y tablecloth mom made for me last fall.
• Dinner just hit the spot tonight- really hit the spot. Maybe it wasn't the food but the beautify sky, spring-like weather, and the company- hooray for not eating dinner alone! Regardless, hamburgers (I love my George Foreman grill...), french fries, carrots, and fruit salad (complete with strawberries and grapefruit) definitely reminded me of summer meals with the family.
• I met up with 3 FSMA gals from TU for BWWs on Thursday. Brittany is finally back from Thailand and it was the first time I got to see her since October! We had a wonderful evening!
• I have tomorrow off (President's Day)
• I have great plans to be productive tomorrow. We'll see just how far I actually get.
• I believe next weekend is supposed to be the February DMS reunion. Hooray for teacher fun! :)