Take Your Dad Fishing

I have no idea how many times I have taken my son Josh fishing. Last winter, he offered to return the favor, and take me fishing. We arranged to go to Venice, LA to fish with the folks at Reel Peace Charters. This was a class of fishing that I had never done in my life. The original trip was postponed due to weather, but in May, we finally got to fullfill our plans. Along with Richard and Jim, Josh and I made it out to blue water. We caught 5 tuna total, Three came home to eat. I this picture, Captain Kevin is directly behind me and Josh is further back.

We had a great time and look forward to going out again. Thanks Josh.

Have a good day.

An Inconvenient Truth

Last night I saw Al Gore's new movie An Inconvenient Truth with a couple hundred other Environmental Science teachers. The movie sets forth Gore's presentation on global warming that he has given in many settings (he says a thousand times) to many people. Most of the movie is actually him talking with a slick powerpoint presentation to a modest sized audience. There are quite a number of personal stories, behind the scenes if you will, that help the viewer understand where he is coming from, including his political fortunes and misfortunes.

I do not expect it to be widely seen...It is a documentary and not entertaining. How do you make the threat of global warming entertaining?

The closing comments of the film are interspersed with the credits and very well done. If you do go to see this film, dont get up when it seems over. This film does a fair amount of Bush bashing, but I think perhaps bush bashing is in order in regard to this topic.

I have to go to work! Have a good day.

Factory Work

It has been a long time since I worked in a factory. I guess that is has been about 35 years! You probably know the drill...punch in, work at a meaningless task, repetition....wait for the break and then wait for lunch, break, dinner and off till the next day. then repeat.

I am now in South Carolina working at a factory for a week. No, not the ordinary factory, this place requires experience and education to grade standardized exams. I have one question that I grade...(see above about the repetition) In fact I am on my lunch break and watching my watch. I was the last one in the room (of ~12 graders) this morning, and that will not happen again. I was there on time, but not ready to go on the second....I scrambled to get ready for the first 2 minutes.

I will let you know how it goes later in the week. I am an educational mercenary!

Have a nice day.

Pushing to the top

On April 29th we left early for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. There were 11 of us, mostly from the same Sunday School Class, on a trek to Mt. LeConte for an overnight, with a return on Sunday. The weather was cold (as expected) when we left but was pleasant for the ~8 mile hike up the Boulevard. The food was delicious, coffee excellent, and the views were outrageous. Sunday morning I attended the sunrise service on Myrtle Point with the chaplain, Caitlin. She had a solid message and I enjoyed the fellowship of believers. I appreciate the work of the Smoky Mountain Resort Ministries in providing a chaplain to minister at the lodge each Sunday. The trip down the mountain started out cloudy and windy, turned sunny, and ended in rain. I definitely plan to make this trip again.

Have a good day.

Sustainability on Higher Education Campuses

I recently had the opportunity to go to Fisk Univerisy to attend the Conference on Environmental Sustainability and Compliance in Tennessee Higher Education. The keynote speaker was Dr. Anthony Cortese, the President of Second Nature. In his talk he called on schools to become more sustainable, track the changes, and monitor results. He stated "We measure what we value and we manage what we measure."

That statement has rolled around in my head for a couple of weeks. What do I really value? How do I measure/manage those areas of my life that I value. This goes way beyond sustainability on campus...

Have a good day.

Two thumbs up!

This is my youngest son showing his version of "two thumbs up." He is just so cute with index fingers sticking up as he repeats "two thumbs up!" We laugh, enjoy, and ask him to repeat it.

He also loves M&M's. He calls them "Any M's" and we never correct him, we just smile.

Cute mannerisms at age 2 and then gone. I enjoy his mistakes now, he will grow up too soon...

Have a good day.

Doing 55 in a 55

Back in the fall when gas went over $3.00 a gallon, I decided that I needed to modify my life to get a little control on my gasoline costs.

We cut back to one vehicle on the Sunday morning trip to church. My wife sings in the choir, so she needs to be there about 30 minutes earlier than the rest of the family. So we all get ready and have a leasurely 30 minutes to get to our Sunday School classes. It is sometimes a rush to get out to the van, but we have continued this modification.

I decided that it would be fun to see if I could increase the gas mileage in my little car by slowing down on highways, using my cruise control, and watching out for rabbit starts and sudden need for brakes. I immediately saw an increase of 2 mpg! So now on my commute to work, I sit in the slow lane and poke along doing 55 (the speed limit) as I watch the other cars race past me. It is very empowering. I control my lane. The other cars and trucks (behind me) all follow my lead or they get out of my lane. In the past 4 months I have only had to change lanes 3 or 4 times to actually pass another vehicle! This is very good for me, it helps at the gas pump and I find my commute relaxing.

Have a good day.

First Post

Happy Valentine's Day. I wish you the very best in friendships today. Help someone else smile today.