If you’re looking for great summer reads, here are some that I’ve just finished:
Blood and Ice – Robert Masello
Arctic explorers find a block of ice underwater and inside are a man and woman chained together. Brought back to the surface, the couple revive and everyone finds out not only how they came to be [...]
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Monday – after introductions and watching a Design Squad episode, the Clubhouse kids mixed music for our own episode. Today’s mini-challenge was to safely land a home-made lunar lander and it’s marshmallow astronauts.
Tuesday – we added4 new participants and then had an engineering challenge to build a rubber-band powered lunar rover. This proved [...]
The crowd – 25000 runners, about 7500 of them were marathoners, the rest did the half.
Well, I did it. It was 49 degrees when we got up this morning, and 79 degrees on the drive home. Forecast was a high of 77. Okay, okay. I knew I was taking a risk, but the weather has been varied here lately, and doesn’t always match up with the forecast (surprise!) so I worked out a plan, and got it okay’d by Eric. My plan was to run while it was cool, and when it got hot, walk. Before I go any farther though, let me back up and tell the story from the beginning…
On Wednesday afternoon, Eric and I headed north to Seattle. I had a conference up there on Thursday, and Margaret very graciously offered us a night in her condo. We had a wonderfully relaxing afternoon and evening, and I attended an absolutely amazing eight hour lecture on Brain Rules. Wow! I got out of the lecture at 4:30 and we headed straight for the expo – which closed at six. Not so bad, it’s just on the other side of town…wrong! Traffic. Seattle traffic compounded by the marathon expo and the Mariners game that had just finished up. At 5:20, I hopped out of the car in the midst of traffic and walked the rest of the way to the expo. Eric finally got to an area where he could park and met me shortly after. He had picked up his bib earlier, but of course, the Rock and Roll people wouldn’t let him pick up mine. If there is any complaint about this race, this is it – the expo ended too early for working folk to get there amidst Seattle traffic and they wouldn’t let anyone else pick up for you. Better change that!
We fought traffic to get out of Seattle as well, but finally got home. Friday was a kick-around day for both of us. I went for a three mile run to loosen up my legs, and then just puttered around all day.
We were up at 4:00 this morning, Laurie was here by 4:45, and Cat and Larry picked us up shortly after. We stopped to get George and headed north again. Larry was able to get us right to the drop-off point, then we had about a half mile walk to the corrals. I was in corral 28, Eric in corral 6. Once the gun went off, it took us 45 minutes to make it to where Eric’s corral had started! Dori was up for the race, so she, Wendy, Tammy and I started together. Wendy, Tammy and I ran together for the first 13 miles, sometimes with Dori, and sometimes leap-frogging her.
At the half way point, Wendy was feeling good, so she and Tammy kept going. By this time, it was getting warm, so I decided to be proactive in my battle with the heat. I had filled my hydration pack with ice and water this morning (6.5 pounds) to help me stay cool, which was part one. I was applying sunscreen regularly to fight sunburn (did I mention I had a reaction to the sunburn I got in Spokane?). And finally, I decided to shift in to the old and familiar post-to-post method of running before I got into trouble. I pretty much did that from mile 13 to the finish. I figured it would keep my pace down, keeping me cooler, and hopefully, prevent some of the issues I had in Spokane. Doing that, the slight breeze in places, and the ice water at the aid stations in the last miles saved me. I finished in 6:04:40 and feeling good. Dori and I continued to leapfrog, with periods of running together, through out.
Heading to the stadium.
Finish line – remember to subtract the 48 or so minutes it took to get to the start line.
Dori and I.
It was a pretty good race for an inaugural – I didn’t experience any mishaps or inconveniences. It was a pretty course, though the three out-and-backs seemed really, really long. I feel great now, and am pleased at my ability to manage the heat today. Wendy finished well, pulling in marathon #2, and Laurie did great with marathon #3. Cat ran a good race and so did Eric, and George in the half. All together, I think it was a good day!
The Happy Finishers.
These are amazing!
38 Marvellous Graffiti Art and Street Art that will blow you away
If you are a GoArmyEd student and are registered for a Pierce College class that starts on June 28th, look in your email for a welcome message in the next couple of days. The message will contain everything you need to access your Pierce College online course.
Now that it is official, I can tell you about the new path that I will be following in my work life.
As many of you know, the Parent Education Program at our college was a victim of the budget cuts. As coordinator of the program, as well as adjunct faculty, that meant that I would be out of work on June 30th. I began looking for something new back in mid-March. After exploring a few options, I decided that rather than following the money, I would follow my heart. I opted for a part time position with the college in the Early Childhood Education (ECE) program. This past week, my assignments were finalized and I couldn’t be more excited! I will be an adjunct professor of ECE, with my main assignment being the practicum courses. Practicum at our college takes place in a lab school, where student teachers spend an intense quarter working with children ages three to five. They are in the classroom under the supervision of faculty (me) three days a week, and spend two days a week planning, preparing lessons and reflecting on their experiences (also with me). In addition, I will teach a one-credit parent education course to the parents of the children in the lab school. This is the perfect job for me, melding all my skills and knowledge into my daily work experience.
In addition to teaching practicum for all three quarters, I’ll be doing some part-time academic advising during the peak advising periods (which turns out to be a really fun experience) and I’ll be picking up addtional courses for winter and spring. Most likely these will include an evening Intro class – which I have taught several times – and the music course. (Donald, I can hear you lauging all the way from CA!) Music will be new for me, and those of you who know me know that I am just about the least musical person on the planet. I’m told that will be a good thing because it will give confidence to the students – you know the old “if she can do it, then I certainly can do it too” theory. Bear in mind, this is music for ECE – songs and movement, finger plays, get-the-wiggles-out type activities.
To be honest, the minute this was offered, I knew it was what I wanted. It incorporates everything I love about my job – working with children, working with adults, working with parents. It’s got it all! I hesitated though, only because I really thought I should pick up something full time in order to make our finances stronger. After a lot of thought, discussions with Eric and a single interview at another place, I realized that I had to do this. It means driving past the campus that is less than a mile from our house, to the other campus that is 30 minutes away, and it means a pay cut (from full time to part time, which, on the plus side, brings a shorter work day) but it also means getting up each morning feeling excited about going to work and loving what I do.
I also picked up a project working for a local private university, helping develop courses for a new program – a bachelors in ECE. I’ve already begun working on that. It’ll probably take about nine months to hammer all the courses out, and I’ll have an opportunity to teach there as well if I’m interested.
So, it’s a pretty sweet deal. In February, it seemed as though my beloved career had come to a screeching halt. I knew there were other options out there, but working at the college was what I really wanted to do. And now, even as I’m overwhelmed with sadness at the passing of Parent Education and our ties to the co-ops, I’m also ready to move forward, and beyond excited as I step onto a new path.
Day 1…….. After introductions and checking out an episode of PBS Design Squad the challenge was to explore the history of the paper airplane and to make a long-flying model.
Day 2…… The Design Squad kids built anti-missile rockets to try to shoot down an invading paper airplane.
Day 3…… After affixing and programming functional bumpers onto [...]
Eric and I decided we should take advantage of our time off and hit the trails, and he suggested helping Michael and Scott out with marking for the 20th Century race tomorrow. I was a bit skeptical as we headed out, as I am not fond of steep descents and I knew our piece of the trail would include the infamous rope section from the CCC100. I’m proud to say I did it, and I didn’t freeze up, and I didn’t cry. It poured rain on us and we got a little cold, but it was well worth it!
(I can’t make the captions match up in Mozilla, though they are fine in Explorer. Sorry for the mess.)
On the way up to the Iron Horse Trail.
Eric is a little wet.
Marking the turn that leads to the PCT.
Up we go.
Into the deep, dark woods.Heading down to the rope section.
At the end of my rope.
Back at the falls. Can you see how wet my jacket is?
On a short list of things that are truly cheap and incredibly delicious, Costco’s Polish dog is right up there at the top. At just $1.50, including the drink, it is impossible to resist, even if an hour later I’m doubled over, cursing and grumbling, wishing I’d just had a salad.
Frankly, I know it’s the [...]