16° and a Quiet Good-bye....

This morning I over slept my alarm, and I was tempted to blow off trying to ride my bike (rebuild Trek 460) into work in the cold. Eventually I decided to "man up" and give it a go, and happily, it was a fine trip in to school. The feet got a little cold, but not bad for sixteen degrees.

After first hour we were called to the library and told that Dr. Patti Soderberg had died over the weekend. She was my age and the sister of Doug Soderberg, who used to come over and visit Eric Hanson when I first lived in Minneapolis at the Portland house. Patti is the one who figured out that connection.

More recently I remembered Patti as working at Conserve School in Land O'Lakes, Wisconsin. Several years ago I got to go visit Conserve School, and I was awed by the facility. What a great place to teach--too bad the Board of Trustees never got it together and the school sank in the recent economic down turn.

Patti, I hope you have some measure of peace where you are. We miss you.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

This book was recommended to me by one of my students, who was so enthusiastic about it - I thought I should give it a try...

I have to say that I did enjoy this title. The premise is a bit gruesome, but the story had me totally immersed. Whenever I but down a book and realize that I am walking around - feeling like I am in the story - that is a good title. I remember having that feeling after reading Elmore Leonard books.

Normally here is where I complain about the ending of the book, but I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of a Disney ending. A cynic might suggest that the ending was has the reader qued up for a sequel - but even with that perspective, I still liked the thought-provoking end of the story.

I would give this title three and a half paws up.

Biking to Work

There is nothing quite like biking by one of the lakes as the sun is coming up or setting.

This is the south end of Lake Harriet this morning.

The middle shot is shorts in November in Minnesota. Yeah.













The shot at the bottom is looking south on Cedar Lake on the way home.

Going Bovine

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

I love the characters in this book, and for the most part, I like the journey they take. The main character, Cameron, is a sixteen year old boy who is suffering from Mad Cow Disease. This book is about his journey to try and regain his health. He has three side kicks that join him - all of whom add a great deal to the story.

On the whole, I think the author fit too many ideas into Cameron's trip to become healthy.

I love the characters, but I am more traditional in my love of novels. I don't care for authors like Richard (Dick) Hoyt who view writing like playing jazz. They are always pushing the boundaries of what qualifies as a novel. Going Bovine isn't the same as Hoyt's most recent novels - but to a certain extent - Bray does the same thing.

I once heard a musician say the hardest part of song writing, is figuring out how to end the story. I think the same is true with writing novels (or with this novel). I was fascinated when I saw John Irving (I think) he settles on the last sentence, and then he writes the story. Somehow I walked away from a great journey with these characters and I asked myself - really? That's how it ends?

Maura Channels Georgia

So, Friday night, Maura tells us she needs the car on Saturday to go take pictures for her art portfolio. I don't really get what photography suddenly has to do with art class, but I let it ride.

Early in the afternoon on Saturday I wander in from a grueling morning of SAT proctoring just as Maura is loading up and heading out. No big deal.

So I tend to my afternoon projects and dinner time rolls around. No Maura. Hmmm. Finally, around six bells I decide to give her a call. To my surprise she picks up. She tells me she is on the freeway and she will be home in an hour - or at least that is what my brain registers. So as the wheels in the cerebellum turn slowly, I start to piece together what is going on. Maura went an hour away to take pictures? What is up with that? This doesn't make sense. I thought Maura might wander around Uptown, or maybe at a local park to find her pictures. Where would you go that is an hour away?

An hour later, Karyl and I are hanging around before heading out on "Date Night" and still no Maura. I try the cell phone again, and this time she tells me that she is in Plato, Minnesota. Plato? Never heard of Plato. I don't even think Karyl has played a concert there. I Google Plato. Wow, Maura is out there. If she has been driving for an hour, and she is just now to Plato - Holy shit Batman, did the girl go all the way to South Dakota?

It turns out Maura got in the car and headed west for some rural pictures. She made it all the way to Montevideo, where Karyl's uncle still lives. Maura took quite a few pictures and here are a few...

Who knew?

Yankees turn 27

Go figure. As the baseball playoffs came around I was pleasantly surprised by my daughter's interest in the games.

We started watching our Twins qualify for the playoffs, and then travel to New York where they were dispatched by the Bronx Bombers. To make matters a worse, the Twins committed several base running gaffes to make life a little easier on the Yankees.

Next up it was Yankees versus the California Angels. The Angels appeared to be playing from the same playbook as the Twins, and they too were dispatched from the pinstriped men from the Bronx. It became apparent during this series, however, that my daughter was rooting for the Yankees. How could this happen? Where did I go wrong? What's next the Dallas Cowboys?

As you probably know by now, the Yankees won their 27 World Championship, and their first in the new ball park. In 1923 the Yankees won their first championship in the new ball park of that era. Funny how those things happen. The Phillies were a worthy opponent, but were a couple of pitchers shy of a full arsenal. Cliff Lee was brilliant for the Phillies, but after that their starting pitching was very average. The Yankee rotation of Sabathia, Burnett, and Pettitte really did well, and the Yankees made very few mistakes in the field.

So how did my daughter become a fan of baseball and the evil empire? This is one of life's great mysteries which may, or may not, be made clear to me in time.

Finally, Loyola

So here we are at Loyola University on Saturday, an admissions "Open House" for Loyola. We went to the student center to confirm our registration and then it was off to the gym for snacks. Maura headed straight for the Diet Coke - no surprise there, and I went to look for the cookies. Grace gathered academic information.


After snacks we are off on a tour. We start in an academic building that is 101 years old and looks wonderful. Once inside you notice that Loyola differs from most other colleges, even from other Catholic colleges (De Paul, Boston College), it that there are statues everywhere.

Once inside the classroom there are more reminders of religion. A crucifix on the wall next to the clock. Okay.

Their new technical information center is right on Lake Michigan and it is beautiful.

To the right of the new building is a chapel that is in the process of being redone. It is beautiful.

Finally, after hanging around waiting for a friend of Grace's, Ellie, to show up at the athletic center, we hit the bookstore for some product, and then loaded up for the drive back to the flat lands.

A great trip.

More Rain - This Time at Northwestern

Friday morning, here we are at Northwestern. More rain, but a great looking campus with a ton of programs. One of the treats was running into Patti Soskin and Maddy on this tour.

Northwestern is right on Lake Michigan, and I can only imagine what a joy that must me when the weather is hot.

A birding highlight for the trip was seeing a ruby crowned kinglit on the fill land that the University has built into Lake Michigan. There science and math facility is on this land, as is the athletic facility.

One thing I learned is that Northwestern is the only private college in the Big Ten. You have to admire a school of eight thousand undergraduates slugging it out with schools like Ohio State and Madison that take more than four times as many students.

The arch was donated to the school in 1993 by the retiring head of school.

The final picture is of one of the libraries on campus. It is supposed to look like books flying off the shelf. In a moment it really started to rain hard here, and then we went down to the lake front to see the north part of campus.

First Stop - U of W in Madison

So here we are at Grace's. We are ten minutes late, but Grace is ready to go.





So we are off. Here is raining in St Paul.











Here it is raining as we cross over the St. Croix into Wisconsin.







Four and a half hours later, we pull into Madison. Here is the Capitol building, in the heart of town, and it looks as if the sun might be coming out.


After one of the longest tours in the history of college admissions visits, we are at the top of hill - a scenic view if you will. I asked the girls' for a photograph. Vintage silliness on the part of Maura and Grace.

Next to one of the buildings where we they do Admissions work, you can see Lake Mendota in the background. Still a gray day, but you could easily thing of how nice this would be in warm weather. On the tour, I asked the guide if the lake froze in the winter and she said, "yes". The girls ranked this my high water mark for stupid questions on the trip. You can tell I was in rare form early on this trip.



I took the picture of this building because I liked the way it looked.

I don't think the girls will be applying to Madison.

University of Chicago

On Friday afternoon we visited the University of Chicago. It took about 20 minutes to find a place to park but things went well from there.

When most people picture a college campus, I bet the picture buildings like these. Ivy covered brick buildings are to be found everywhere. Very scenic.

Not all of the buildings are old and ivy. A dorm was done in bright orange and yellow. The new building for athletics was also very creative. That building has the first Heisman trophy in in.

One of the highlights of the tour was the nut job with a hole in the back of his jeans and black underwear. Check out the guy in the red and white knit hat. He spent all his time huddling with his girl friend in the red and black coat. I wanted to Grace to stuff this guy in a garbage can. Hey Newton, buy yourself some pants and save the art show for someone else...

This looked like a fun place to go to school, one of many good choices (even with a Newton who thinks its okay to go around with a whole the size of softball in the back of his jeans).

Green Bay Visit 2009 - Or How I Came to Love the 5-10 Split

Our trip to Green Bay was this weekend, and it was a great time. We started off Saturday with a trip to the grocery store for beer and breakfast burrito fixings. As I walked around the store looking for meds to dry up my stupid nose I passed this gentleman stocking items while standing on a steel cart with wheels. Where are the Health and Safety people when you need them.




The next stop was St. Norbert's for their game against Lawrence (where Robin Fondow went to school). Lawrence was over matched and I thought they kept using an illegal formation. I, of course, was wrong.



Later in the evening we visited Titletown Brewery for some great beer and dinner. I was bitten by a Hopasaurus Rex at Titletown. It is now my favorite dinosaur.

After dinner, on our way to bowling, we stopped by Green Bay East and viewed City Stadium. This was the first home of the Packers back from 1926-1956. Robin's brother, Terry, was the principal at East and he was the person who generated the movement to restore the stadium. The boys are paying homage to a plague that correctly credits Terry for his endless work ethic on behalf of his students, staff and community.






Next it was time for a little ten pen. This was my highlight of the trip. Lots of good-natured teasing and cheering for each other. You can't tell from the score cards, but the team of Bret, Jeep, Mike, and Robin pounded the rest of us. My personal highlight of the evening was making a 5-10 split for a spare. I evened called the shot. This was a great evening



Way too early the next morning we are at Lambeau and Robin is making breakfast burritos. At 11:00 we head in to watch warm-ups and then the game begins after the Navy fly over. The Packers did not play well and they need make major changes if they want to have any kind of a season.




Finally, after a 31- 24 Bengal win, we pack up at Randy and Barb's and begin the five hour drive home. Thanks to the Beckster for manning the wheel the last four hours.

Trying to Figure It Out

For Dad's birthday Gaylord drove down and saved his life. This is the whole gang on he next weekend having an adult beverage and a burger. God Bless family.

Gaylord's friend, Jessica.

My shy sister, Gaylord and her wonderful husband, Jon.

One of several neighborhood dogs that strolled by during our evening meal.