Googling Richard

Googling Richard Just for Fun:
Here's an item from the consent calendar of the T.C. City Commission meeting of December 6, 2004. This is the approval that allowed Dick to set out his Park Series:

The request from Richard Steiger, 888 East River Road, to allow use of City parks for Geocaching, an adventure game for global positioning system users, as recommended by the Parks and Recreation Commission be approved.

This one is from mytraversecity.com (see link above):

At the Traverse City Visitors Center, I explain my “color quest” to volunteer guide Dick Steiger. Happy to help, he perks up and suggests two postcard-pretty overlooks. One is Inspiration Point on Route 616 south of Glen Arbor, which takes in the aquamarine sweep of Glen Lake, nestled among the trees like a Caribbean lagoon. The other is a hilltop on M-37 halfway up the Old Mission Peninsula near the Chateau Grand Traverse winery, where you can catch a rare glimpse of both East and West Bay at once. Steiger is nice enough to pinpoint the spots on my map.

“You know, of course, that Torch, Glen and Crystal lakes are considered the third most beautiful lake in the world?” Steiger says with a chuckle. National Geographic once bestowed the distinction on one of the lakes – or so the story goes. Now all three claim the title. “What are the first two?” he says, rhetorically. “And who cares?” The point is – they’re all world-class breathtaking.

Piles of Leaves

Dick had a meeting with the visitor center volunteers this morning. Chamber of Commerce and Cherry Festival Office - he enjoyed meeting Tom Menzel, the new director. From Dick's report, it sounds like the discussion was mainly about funding and budgeting.

I moved all my 9 piles of leaves and so the yard is slightly more picked up than it was before. There's still a lot of work to be done - doing some fine tooth comb raking, and beginning to weed the bed. The weather just draws me outside - it has been perfect.

We went for another great ride this afternoon - we went to pick up Dick's computer, and some shirts at Progress. Gas is $2.95.9 - I was totally in shock.

Got a call from Mary G. - Uncle Fritz is having a pacemaker installed. I want to check that out, and go tell Mother so she'll be in the loop. Evidently F&R have more financial problems than I thought. They lived quite a lavish lifestyle - they had me fooled. Thank God for Dad's prudence.

Lovely Day

Such gorgeous weather we're having! The grass is greening up, and the trees are definitely ready to burst.

The perennial garden is all raked out, and today it was a lot easier. Some of the plants are already sending up shoots - some green, some purple. It's fun to see. I had a list of perennials to plant this spring, and I can't find it. They were all plants that should thrive in our climate (zone 5) - I haven't given up looking for it yet.

Dick is still working on polishing up all of the park caches - new logs, double checking for dampness, etc. So we had a great ride all around town - it was the perfect day to be out and about. We love to Subaru Cruise! We stopped at the brand new Oleson's - it's very nice, and it's a convenient stop for us on the way home from town.

Tomorrow Laurie and Dylan fly to California. Laurie's going to Mary's wedding, and Tom is taking Dylan to Disneyland.

Indie Flix

Weather prediction was for a beautiful day, so I planned to rake out my perennial garden. It was, and I did. Sort of. I have some really good days and some not so good days, and today was not so good. I did rake out two big piles of leaves, but then I was done. Or done in, take your pick. The rest of the day I just sat around.

The highlight of the day was going to Kejara's Bridge Coffee House in Lake Leelanau in the evening for coffee, snacks and movies (indie flix). Their food is yummy, and the coffee was excellent. The decor is garage sale/flea market. The tables are all old fashioned kitchen tables, all different. The dishes are all from the yard sale - cups, plates, and flatware. The dish that Dick got was like our very first set of dishes - the yellow dish with the big daisy in the center. It was freaky.

The movies were Mark Fiore cartoons (some funny, some very unfunny), and a film about culture jamming. It was about people who hack billboards and posters, and a one-man crusade against Disney because of the sweatshop merchandise. (Rev. Billy from the Church of Stop Shopping)

When we were kids, we used to hear about Solle's Bookshop near Suttons Bay. Folks used to say that he was a commie, or a pinko, or at the very least a leftist. We think that the movement is alive and well in Leelanau County!

It was an interesting evening - I've always wondered what Kejara's Bridge was like inside. It was very pleasant and friendly, and a little strange.

Geo-Brunch

We decided that a geo-brunch is like a geo-breakfast except later, and like a geo-dinner except lighter.

We met at the Omelette Shoppe with Kim (Major K), Carla (Civilian) and Darcia (Tootsie Roll) who are known collectively as the Sucker Sisters. They all work in Grayling for the Army National Guard in the Environmental Programs Division. There will be a National Guard convention here in T.C. at the Resort on May 2, and they have promised a geo-caching outing for the evening entertainment. They've chosen Dick's 10 stage municipal park cache series. They wanted to double check all of the locations, code numbers and coordinates to make sure they're on top of things before the big event.

Kim is a SCUBA diver, and she was here yesterday for the underwater egg hunt down at the marina. She's planning to dive with sharks in the Bahamas next. Carla is a mountain biker. She and her family biked across the country 8 years ago when her son was 12 and her daughter was 15. Her son is now on a Belgian bike team - amateur not pro, but he wants to be pro eventually (ala Lance). This summer she and her husband are planning to bike the Continental Divide. You meet the most absolutely fascinating people geo-caching!

Hop, Hop Bunny Bunny

Happy Easter Everybody!

Sniders arrived around 10:30 this morning, and it was great to see them. We haven't gotten together all winter. We caught up on all of the latest stories and jokes, and Belleville gossip. There's nothing better :)

We had a reservation at the Freshwater Lodge for brunch, and it was as spectacular as usual. The best part was the dessert table (blush). We had good appetites, good food, good friends and good conversation. It really wasn't that crowded, so we could sit there as long as we wanted and just talk.

It's such a beautiful day that when we got home, we all just sat out on the deck and watched the canoes and kayaks go by. The temp was around 65, but the sun was really warm. We enjoyed hearing on all of the latest news of the children and grandchildren.

I wasn't sure that I should mention Kim's health problems here - but Dick wrote a letter of explanation to our kids and I thought it was well done - so here's his letter:

We had brunch with Bill and Jan today. They are on their way from Manistee to Houghton Lake and then back to Canton. Bill has to go to the U of M hospital Tuesday for tests. The reason he has to have tests is that Kim has some very serious health problems.
First, she has gastrointestinal problems caused by an inflammation of the stomach. As a result she has a problem keeping food down and has lost over 10 pounds. That doesn't sound like much for us but Jan says she is really skinny.
Second and compounding the problem, she has a chronic sinus infection and cough. The coughing apparently is severe at times and has resulted in a hernia.
The above are her minor medical problems, much more serious and the cause of the tests on Bill is that she has developed neuropathy in her legs. Due to some auto immune attack, she has lost all feeling in her feet. Jan says she can no longer walk but just shuffles along. It also seems to be spreading to her hands. She goes to A2 every two weeks for an infusion treatment at 10K a pop but they don't see any results yet. Bill is being tested because of his leg problems to see if there is a genetic component.

I'm not sure that we reported that they are moving to California. Mike has had it with the "small town hospital politics" in Manistee and wants to start fresh. They have put $ down on a small house near Reiko. They have the Manistee house listed at 1.5. They are buying less than 1/2 the house for more $.


As you can imagine, Bill and Jan are extremely concerned. It's one thing to get creaky and achy at our age but it's not fair to have it hit when you are so young. We feel lucky that all we have to worry about with our kids is their job stress.

The infusions that she gets are called IVIG. It's gamma globulin to boost the immune system. It's a treatment often used for MS, but they haven't actually diagnosed her with MS at this point. You can google it. The neuropathy is advancing upwards to her calves also. Her friends are all doctors too, and she comes to T.C. regularly to see other doctors (gastroenterologist and hematologist), and she goes to Ann Arbor for her infusions. Plus she has access to the entire staff of West Shore Hospital in Manistee. Tons of doctors are involved and they can't figure out what the problem is. She's still trying to see patients part time, but she's not very mobile. Whoever first said that Life Is Not Fair was right.

New Mission

This was an absolutely gorgeous Spring day. We picked daffodils for Mom, and drove past our beautiful bright blue bay. Mother seems fine - she loved the flowers, and we had what she likes to call "a good visit". She learned all about the latest happenings. She enjoyed hearing about L, C & D camping in Florida - we told her about the raccoons and the bears, the canoeing and the geo-caching, but we left out the story about the tics!

After our good visit, we drove over to Lake Dubonnet, and located a possible site for another Shore to Shore cache. The trail really meanders around through there - and it's a beautiful area, although spring is not it's prettiest season - lots and lots of dry leaves.

I have a new mission in life - I'm going to try to avoid artificial sweeteners because I believe they make me feel ill. Over the past 10 years I've consumed just about every type of sugar substitute that there is, and I certainly can't notice any positive results. I've been reading about them on the internet, and some of the case histories are downright scary. Some people are seriously affected by the chemicals in the sweeteners. After my aspirin/internal bleeding episode, I believe I probably am "some people"!

There's a long list of physical problems associated with most of the fake sugar - even Splenda, which I had thought was going to be the healthy choice. Check out the link above, and scroll down to "side effects". Maltitol is my biggest bugaboo - my system can't tolerate it - and it's in so many things I've been eating - the diabetes food bars, sugar free cookies, fake chocolate, even hard candies and sugar free gum. I found this paragraph which graphically explains the biggest problem:

All authorities recommend using caution and definitely moderation is key. Because they are not completely absorbed in the bowel, they have a nasty reputation of holding onto water, and promoting diarrhea, gas and bloating. This is politely termed the "laxative effect". Sorbitol and mannitol are the worst offenders, maltitol and lactitol less so. The label should indicate the serving size. This is the amount considered safe to eat before the laxative effect takes over. So beware that overeating these foods can have serious effects. Especially for children, who of course will experience the effect from an even smaller amount.

Those substitutes mentioned in that paragraph are all sugar alcohols, and I'm learning that we really don't want to be putting these substances in our bodies. Reading labels is going to be my new hobby. Even Diet Pepsi is on it's way out - I think I'll start drinking more iced tea and sparkling water. Water si, chemicals no.

Happy Birthday Barb

This was the Big 6-0 for Barbie, and so her kids organized a birthday dinner at Schelde's, and we were invited! It was really a good time, and it was great to see everyone.

Barb and Jim, Melissa and Peter, Autumn, Brooke, Shelly and Chris, Adam and Melanie, Dick and Nan - it was a lively group! Of course, Autumn and Brooke are still the cutest little girls that there ever were - and they look so much alike - blonde hair, blue eyes, and those charming dimples that they got from their Grandma Barb.

Barb looks so good - she's doing great. She's going to start working full-time on Monday, and she really feels ready! It's a miracle.

Afterwards we all went over to Shelly's for cake and ice cream - it was such fun to be with everybody. Her house is small, but very comfortable and charming. I loved it. Shelly has a new puppy named Ranger - a collie and shepherd mix - looks like it will be a big dog! Peter had his police dog in a dog crate in the backyard- Jim said it looked like it could hold a wildcat!

We left with a smile because Autumn and Brooke called goodby from the upstairs bedroom window, and yelled "Happy Easter"! Fun.

Happy Birthday Barb

Foothills

These Medicare presentations are always a new and different experience. The meeting this morning was at 9:30 at the Foothills Cafe on Dunn's Farm Road over by Glen Arbor. We must have driven by this place a million times over the years, but neither one of us ever noticed it. There's a small Mom and Pop motel, and the Cafe is about the size of a two-car garage. We were expecting 22 people, and I was wondering if we would all fit in there. It turned out to be a fine place - it was open and airy, because there were huge windows on two sides. The food was good, and the servers were friendly and pleasant. The Leelanau COA paid for our breakfast.

We didn't feel that this group was really interested in hearing about Medicare Part D. They seemed to be all set as far as their prescriptions were concerned. I think that the program director just lined up somebody to give a program without considering the needs of the audience. It was a nice group, and we sat next to retired teachers - that's always fun.

We're still working on finding spots to hide caches for the Shore to Shore trail series (called by those in the know "The S2S"). So after the meeting we drove to Empire and explored the riding/hiking trail. Dick found 3 or 4 good possibilities for cache sites, and we had a great ride around Leelanau/Benzie.

Friendship Center

Well this was the oddest presentation for Medicare yet. The set time was 6:30 p.m., and we were there early. By 6:30, no one else had appeared - we were expecting about 20 people, and there were 6 of us counting Dick and me, the Leelanau coordinator, and the event organizer. So that left 2 people who came for the presentation. We just sat and talked to them for about an hour and fifteen minutes - it was a unique event!

Afterwards, we went to the Olive Garden for dinner - it was OK. It's not as great as the Olive Garden in Ann Arbor - that one had a lot more atmosphere, and was more comfortable. Tonight, the first table at which we were seated was freezing cold - there was a definite draft from somewhere - it was almost like they had the air conditioning on. We moved to a booth, and it was much better. The servers were well-trained and the service was good. The food was OK - Dick really enjoyed his seafood pasta. My baked ziti was average. It seems to be a very popular restaurant, and I'm not really sure why - the prices aren't particularly cheap, and I just wasn't as impressed as I wanted to be. The view out of the window by our booth was the Williams Kia dealership.

Easter is Coming

Dick had an appointment with Dr. Tim first thing this morning - then he went to the Agency for 5 or 6 hours. He handled 30 phone calls, and one Medicaid application.

I went shopping at Tarjay to get some Easter things to brighten up Mother's room. I really waited too long - their Easter items were almost all gone. There were still some very nice things there, though, and I was pleased with what I got. She seems fine - she liked the Easter stuff. She enjoyed hearing about our trip, and telling me about the goings on at Concord Place. I wish they would come up with a dependable staff on a regular schedule. She never knows who will be coming in the evening to bathe her and help her get ready for bed. It's a little unnerving for her to never know who's coming. They do seem a bit short-handed. I keep saying that she can go to a different place, but she won't consider moving at this point.

Our week is shaping up - we're quite the social butterflies! Tuesday evening Dick has a presentation in Suttons Bay at 6:30 p.m., so he's taking me out to dinner. Thursday morning he has a presentation in Glen Arbor, so he's taking me out to breakfast. Friday evening we're having a family dinner in T.C. Sounds like an eventful, fun week.

Jiggety

Breakfast with Bob Evans!
Dick did 6 more caches and then it was time to head for home. I was still totally wiped out from yesterday, so I just sat in the car or did short walks.
We had a nice drive home - found our mail - thank you Barkers!

New Record

We spent the day in Marshall doing urban geocaches. Usually 7 or 8 in a day is satisfying and enough for us. Today we did over 25!! A brand new experience. The first one we found was our 900th find.

A bonus was meeting other cachers. In town, we ran into Hog Islanders (Jim Needham) and that was fun. At the Coffindaffer cache we met up with Geopigs (Sally and her husband).

When we got back to the motel after dinner at a Denny's that looked like a diner, Dick sat right down and logged them all. It took him approximately 2.5 hours.

Tired and sleepy - ho hum.

Turtle Update

So far: Turtle 1 - 3 votes - (Dick, Sharon, Bob)

Turtle 5 - 2 votes - (Nancy, Mitchy)

Chapter 899, In Which I Go Solo !

This was conference day for Dick at Burnham Brook in Battle Creek. I kept myself busy cleaning out the car, getting iced tea at Burger King, and reading my book at Burnham Brook. I was a guest for lunch, so we were able to eat together. We should have gone to Burger King! The food was slmost inedible. It gave me renewed respect for Mother, who says the same thing about the food where she lives.

We had noticed on the GPSr that there was a cache quite near the conference center. So after lunch, I went on a quest, and I was successful! (My first solo find - and the coordinates were right on!) Whoop, whoop! It was our 899th find.

Ten Caches

We did a leisurely drive from T.C. to South Haven, and did 10 (count 'em) ten caches in one trip. We are very proud of ourselves.

We stopped for lunch in Rothbury at the Country Kitchen. The food was really good, and the eavesdropping was spectacular. It seems that local gossip has it that Cabela's is considering putting a big sports center near Rothbury on a huge (642 acres) parcel of land. It's not a done deal, but it was fun listening to all of the conjecture!

Once in South Haven, it was recommended that we eat dinner downtown at Clementine's. Well, Clementine's was over-crowded, so we just ducked into Captain Nemo's. It was kind of a combination ice cream shop and sub shop. We saw a lot more local color than we really wanted to!

UsTwo

This morning we were treated to breakfast at the Omelette Shoppe by UsTwo (Doug and Edie of Lansing). We had a great time and a yummy breakfast. The air was filled with cache talk - that's always such fun. Thanks for breakfast, UsTwo.

We're leaving tomorrow (Thursday) for Battle Creek by way of South Haven. We're heading for the MMAP Volunteer Recognition Conference. It's always enjoyable. Of course, we're planning to do a lot of geo-caching before and after.

This year I think that Dick should win at least 14 different awards at the conference because he has worked so hard! The Traverse City office has been hit by a plague of locusts (well, not really). The boss is in Florida for the winter and not returning until May, the vice-boss has breast cancer and is responding poorly to chemo, the Social Security contact has colon cancer, another counselor has just has heart by-pass surgery, and then there's Dick. So whatever gets done in Traverse City - medicaid applications, Part D drug Plans, presentations to groups, general medicare questions - gets done by Dick. One year we both won the Medicaid Specialist for the State of Michigan award, and we didn't work half as hard as he has worked, and there were two of us.

Turtle 1 

Turtle 5 

Vote for Your Favorite Turtle

Which picture do you like best, Turtle 1 or Turtle 5? I'll use the winning picure on the geocaching cache page for a new cache I want to put out. Please vote!

Sam's Club is so great - we go there every month or so to get large quantities of things like toilet paper, paper towels, bottled water, olives, etc., etc. We spend a lot of time and money there this morning.

Dick knew of two new caches in T.C. - the first one was at K Mart, and that was fun - and while we were there we went to the dollar store. I'm searching for turtle items for my new cache.

As long as we were at the Cherryland Plaza, we went to The Big Eazy for lunch. Yummy and fun.

Second cache was at the new County Building on LaFranier Road - we had lots of fun finding the trail that took us within 200 feet of it instead of walking 14,000 miles from the parking lot.

Weirdness in Wonderland

An adventure like this only happens to the "lucky and the strong".

First of all, we stopped for lunch in Alden at The Wild Onion. Alden sits on the shore of the beautiful and famous Torch Lake. Searching the menu for yumminess, I almost burst out laughing. For breakfast at the Wild Onion, you can order an omelette called "Torcher"!! No kidding! Want a little Torcher for breakfast? Weird. This reminds me of a sign we saw on another day - it was outside a small ranch. Near the gate, the sign said "Oleo Ranch - The Cheaper Spread"!

Our caching adventure began over in the Jordan River Valley, near East Jordan. There are marvelous trails there, and the conditions on the dirt roads weren't too bad. We parked by a sign that said "Congested Area" at the convergence of three dirt trails! Weird. Dick went off down the gated path to find the Crossing Jordan cache, and to put out the Michigan traveling cache. After he left, I got out my ski-walking poles, and went to investigate the great looking bridge over the river. The trail was superior, the bridge was so attractive, and the river scenery was very unusual. There were hummocks the size of hassocks all through the river, and some other hummocks the size of picnic tables - it was most picturesque.

The trail was so inviting, it drew me on down the way until I came to a fork in the road. I didn't know which way Dick had gone, so I stopped to reconnoiter. I noticed a set of railings at the top of a steep hill, and I was drawn once again to investigate. The ski-walkers made it possible for me to scramble right up the hill with no problem. At the top of the hill was a campground for backpackers. I walked down another hill to another road, and back to the car. This is unusual behavior for me - you have no idea how I surprised myself by doing it. Weird. The ski-walkers are going to change my life!

The second cache was down Bartholomew Road. There's a lot of weirdness in the world, and we found quite a bit of it today! On the way down the road, we came to a junkyard with junk cars on both sides of the road. The thing that was interesting to me was that on one side of the road there was a long wooden wall, and written on the wall were Biblical scriptures - there must have been 15-20 quotations. The interesting part is that the lettering was absolutely beautifully done - a really professional job. It was most incongruous in a junkyard. Weird.

We wound up in somebody's front yard, so we had to back up and look for the right trail. There was a two track back to a picnic area, and the ruins of a house and barn. This cache had been placed by a Boy Scout Troop, and it was very different and weird. The cache container was a red thermos jug just sitting out in the open with no camouflage.

At the Bennett Creek cache site we ran into Whitard and his whole family! How weird is that! It was really fun to see them - we'd like to have them come out to the river sometime. The little girls are so much fun.

The next adventure out-weirded the rest. In search of the Ouachita cache, we took off down Pesek Road, which was a quagmire of mud at the berginning, and then changed to frozen and icy, and then returned to muddy quagmire. There were houses along the way - we couldn't believe that! Dick had to really go fast through the mud so that we wouldn't get bogged down, and mud was splattering everywhere. That road would make a great ride at DisneyWorld! We were both all tightened up and tense by the time we got to Marvon Road. To us, it looked like a super highway. Pesek is short for Pesek Cake (piece of cake) NOT. This is what Dick wrote when he logged the cache:

Thanks for the cache Nanalulubug, we made it into quite an adventure. We were coming up from the south and our auto routing sent us up Pesek Road. We bet that is a real pretty drive in the summer but it's pretty hairy in the spring. We couldn't believe that folks actually live back there. By the time we got to the end, our little Subaru looked like a swamp buggy. We're too old for this stuff. By the time our knuckles were pink again, we were ready for a nice friendly cache. We signed and stamped the log and left a little ducky finger puppet. Then we drove off to find a car wash. Yee Ha!

The Scenic State cache was last. Whew! I was reaching the saturation point.

On the way home we passed through Central Lake, where we saw a man out in his front yard sitting by a campfire playing the guitar. Later we saw a man straight out of Monty Python, doing the silly walk down the side of the road. Weird!

A quick stop at the car wash and at KFC and then home to watch George Mason lose to Florida in the NCAA semi-finals. So now, do we root for UCLA because Melanie chose them, or for Florida because at least they're East of the Mississippi... Weird.

Taxing

Today we worked on getting our income taxes ready to send. No sense waiting until the last minute! (snort) We managed quite nicely - we were able to come up with every scrap of paper that's required, and to jump through all of the hoops from the IRS and also the hoops from TurboTax. It's basically finished - Dick just wants to go over it again before we submit it.

We had time afterwards to finish fixing up the Let's Go Moo cache, and stopped at Moomer's for ice cream - which will turn out to be our dinner!

Not the Best of the Rest

We had fun driving around today trying to fix up our Let's Go Moo cache, which was in dire need of maintenance. We got it partially finished, and we'll do the rest tomorrow.
Each year, the winner of the NIT is called The Best of the Rest, meaning the best of those left out of the NCAA tournament. Michigan played in the championship game tonight, but came up short, so they're the runners up. I guess we could say that they are the Best of the Rest of the Rest.

Bidding for its second NIT championship in three years, the Michigan men's basketball team fell behind early and never recovered as South Carolina captured its second straight NIT crown with a 76-64 victory Thursday, March 30, in New York City. The Wolverines (22-11), who trailed 10-2 early and were down 39-27 at the break, made a late run to cut the margin to nine points but could not get any closer. Daniel Horton closed out his brilliant senior season with 18 points, while Brent Petway and Chris Hunter added 12 points apiece.

T.C. Geo-Lunch

We started out the morning geocaching in Mother Gen's old backyard - no kidding! A cache has been hidden near the TART behind Gen's lot. We couldn't find it, so we'll have to go back. The other one we couldn't find was at the Civic Center - so we'll have to go back there too.

We met Frank and Peggy for lunch at Scott's Harbor Grill - we had a great time - sat and talked for two hours...very much fun indeed. The four of us have a lot in common - kids, geocaching, teaching, Ann Arbor, Boston, etc. We ran into Janet there, too. It really is a small town!

In the afternoon we went to Benzie County for two new caches, and we were FTF (First to Find) on both of them - so that kind of made up for the morning.

It was a beautiful day to be out and about - the weather has been very mild this week - we shed our jackets early. The bay was simply gorgeous - it's fun to see the ships at the Maritime Academy - the big one is docked there (The State of Michigan) along with two little tugs - a lot of local color.

We found a new place in Inland Township, Benzie County - Turtle Lake on Miller Road. It's quite small, but it's in an area that would be very pretty in the summer time. Just makes me want to place a turtle cache there! (see link above)

Exactly So

Laurie found a video in Arabic with subtitles. (see link above) The speaker captivated us all with her bravery, her passion, and her rationality. Dick found a transcript of the interview:

2/21/2006 Clip No. 1050

Arab-American Psychiatrist Wafa Sultan: There is No Clash of Civilizations but a Clash between the Mentality of the Middle Ages and That of the 21st Century

Following are excerpts from an interview with Arab-American psychiatrist Wafa Sultan. The interview was aired on Al-Jazeera TV on February 21, 2006

.
Wafa Sultan: The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between freedom and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship. It is a clash between human rights, on the one hand, and the violation of these rights, on other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts, and those who treat them like human beings. What we see today is not a clash of civilizations. Civilizations do not clash, but compete.

[...]

Host: I understand from your words that what is happening today is a clash between the culture of the West, and the backwardness and ignorance of the Muslims?

Wafa Sultan: Yes, that is what I mean.

[...]

Host: Who came up with the concept of a clash of civilizations? Was it not Samuel Huntington? It was not Bin Laden. I would like to discuss this issue, if you don't mind...

Wafa Sultan: The Muslims are the ones who began using this expression. The Muslims are the ones who began the clash of civilizations. The Prophet of Islam said: "I was ordered to fight the people until they believe in Allah and His Messenger." When the Muslims divided the people into Muslims and non-Muslims, and called to fight the others until they believe in what they themselves believe, they started this clash, and began this war. In order to start this war, they must reexamine their Islamic books and curricula, which are full of calls for takfir and fighting the infidels.

My colleague has said that he never offends other people's beliefs. What civilization on the face of this earth allows him to call other people by names that they did not choose for themselves? Once, he calls them Ahl Al-Dhimma, another time he calls them the "People of the Book," and yet another time he compares them to apes and pigs, or he calls the Christians "those who incur Allah's wrath." Who told you that they are "People of the Book"? They are not the People of the Book, they are people of many books. All the useful scientific books that you have today are theirs, the fruit of their free and creative thinking. What gives you the right to call them "those who incur Allah's wrath," or "those who have gone astray," and then come here and say that your religion commands you to refrain from offending the beliefs of others?

I am not a Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew. I am a secular human being. I do not believe in the supernatural, but I respect others' right to believe in it.

Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli: Are you a heretic?

Wafa Sultan: You can say whatever you like. I am a secular human being who does not believe in the supernatural...

Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli: If you are a heretic, there is no point in rebuking you, since you have blasphemed against Islam, the Prophet, and the Koran...

Wafa Sultan: These are personal matters that do not concern you.

[...]

Wafa Sultan: Brother, you can believe in stones, as long as you don't throw them at me. You are free to worship whoever you want, but other people's beliefs are not your concern, whether they believe that the Messiah is God, son of Mary, or that Satan is God, son of Mary. Let people have their beliefs.

[...]

Wafa Sultan: The Jews have come from the tragedy (of the Holocaust), and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror, with their work, not their crying and yelling. Humanity owes most of the discoveries and science of the 19th and 20th centuries to Jewish scientists. 15 million people, scattered throughout the world, united and won their rights through work and knowledge. We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people. The Muslims have turned three Buddha statues into rubble. We have not seen a single Buddhist burn down a Mosque, kill a Muslim, or burn down an embassy. Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people, and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them.

How to Enjoy a Saturday

Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Glen Arbor needed a Medicare Part D presentation at 10:30 this morning. Dick did a great job. It was a small group but very friendly. Afterwards we had a great lunch at Art's Tavern, which we always enjoy.

We also enjoy driving around Leelanau County! We drove past the Dunes Climb and were surprised to see 4 people up at the top with backpacks. We drove into Pierce Stocking drive, but it's not open yet. We went to Empire to find the end of the Shore to Shore Trail, and to scout out possible locations for caches for the new cache series.

After resting at home for a while, we took the other car to the dump and recycling. We had a great time driving around unusual roads out near Holiday Hills, and behind the Timber Ridge campground. I was amazed at the new houses out that way. We did the Subaru Cruise downtown except we were in the Ford Explorer - so I guess it was a Marco Explore, not a cruise. Downtown was busy - the marina area was deserted - the bay looked dark and angry.

Beef stew in the crockpot.

Second Place

I've been bumped into second place in the GenFamily bracket challenge. Melanie is now # 1. My pick for National Champ (Villanova) had a really tough time beating Boston College so now I'm biting my fingernails about the final outcome!

Dick worked at the Visitor Center from 9 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. - an unusually long stretch. He was covering for Kathee, who is on Spring Break. The Agency had 2 people call him with Medicare questions - I think that's out of line. At least they didn't show up in person the way three of them did last week.

I had my C-T scan - they said it takes 3 to 5 business days for me to get the results, so it will be the end of next week. I was there from 12:30 to 3:30 - the test has a prep similar to the prep for a colonoscopy, but less so, thank goodness! But I did have to drink three large cups full of "stuff". We got pizza from Mancino's so that the day shouldn't be a total loss! (wink)

Coyle's, Caching & Companions

The DinoDuo are back up north, so it's time for a geo-get-together. We met in Houghton Lake for lunch at Coyle's, and to catch up on some caches not done in the past. It was a real cache catch-up. (Sorry) We also caught up on all of the latest news, told most of our favorite jokes, did some pre-planning of the Shore to Shore cache series, and did some caching in the rain. My favorite was the Ospreys Soar- I wasn't afraid to do the reach-in! Dick and I did 8 caches all together.

The weather was miserable - we got rained on and snowed upon, and went down a couple of two-tracks which weren't very vehicle friendly, but that's really fun for us. That's about as adventurous as we get!

On the way home we agreed that it was our favorite kind of a day.

Have you tried frozen Bertolli pasta dinners? Yum! We had that for a late dinner, with polenta.

B-Day

This was a Very Nice Birthday! It began with a call from Tom - we had fun talking about kitties, and his job. He's a little stressed out because he has an upcoming deadline, and he doesn't have his xenon-fluoride chamber perfected yet. And you know how frustrating that can be. (!) I got gorgeous yellow tulips from my offspring, a lot of really cute birthday cards from Dick, a lovely, lush azalea plant from Tim and Susie, and a phone call from Jana.

I spent most of the morning playing guilt-free games on the computer - Did you know that today is National Goof Off Day? (see link above)

We went to the movies and saw Eight Below, which is a dog story about lost sled dogs in Antarctica (http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/8below/). The dogs were really good actors, and displayed a surprising amount of human compassion for each other. But seriously, folks, we really enjoyed it. The dogs were beautiful, and the young, mostly unknown cast was quite good. We were especially impressed with Jason Biggs, the comic relief. He was funny without actually scene stealing the way it sometimes happens. Dick was able to detect some flaws in the technical aspects of dog sledding, but I was enthralled by the drama and the pathos.

We went out to dinner at the Hofbrau in Interlochen, and I had a marvelous time! They have one of those interactive games where you answer trivia questions at your table and your score shows up on the TV monitor. I won, because no one else was playing.

To top it off, Michigan won their 3rd round NIT game against Miami - so it was a perfect birthday. This from mgoblue.com:

The Michigan men's basketball team earned a return trip to Madison Square Garden with a 71-65 NIT quarterfinal victory over Miami (Fla.) Wednesday, March 22, in Crisler Arena. The quartet of Daniel Horton (19 points), Chris Hunter (16), Lester Abram (15) and Dion Harris (15) combined for all but six of the Wolverines' points as U-M gained an NIT semifinal berth for the third straight season (two postseason, one preseason). Graham Brown added 10 rebounds for Michigan, which will face Old Dominion next Tuesday, March 28.

Google Images / Life Story

This idea came from another blog. The project is to do a pictorial autobiography using only images from searching "Google Images". No other pictures or images are allowed. It's a real adventure to see what you can come up with! Some are absolutely appropriate, some of the images are a bit of a stretch, but all in all I'm happy with the way it turned out. So here's my 70th birthday Google Images Life Story:

Grand Traverse Bay. My family moved to Traverse City in 1941 - I was in 1st grade. Dick and I were lucky enough to be able to retire here after living in Wayne County for over 30 years. 

Who could be happier? I was amazed to find this picture on google images. I'm using it to represent Dick - it's a great photo. 

Dick and I both graduated from Traverse City Central High School, Dick in 1954, and Nancy in 1953. 

Dick and Jane (Nancy Jane, that is) 

The University of Michigan continues to be a big part of our lives. We enjoy all of the sports activities, and even better than that, all of our children hold degrees from Michigan - they are all 4th generation Michigan grads. 

After High School I was off to Ann Arbor for four years at the University. BAed'57 

And so after college we established the Steiger Family, which follows: 

Laurie - of all the choices available when you google image Laurie, I liked this one the best because it's sweet and beautiful. 

This is for Dylan, the world's best grandchild. Since we were destined to have only one, it's a miracle that we got the best one! 

Tom, the middle child - graduate of MIT, University of Michigan, and physicist with Cymer. I thought this was especially appropriate because Tom once did his own version of a tour of the Pacific Rim. 

Jana Louise, our youngest child. She is now a corporate barracuda and a cat lover. 

I completed a quilt this year - no one is more surprised than I am - it was a fun (if somewhat nerve-wracking) project, and the best part about it is that it's finished. 

Scrapbooking is an absorbing, colorful, entertaining hobby. I love to sort through all of the available stickers and ribbons and tags and papers - it's very satisfying. I'm not sure for whom I'm doing the scrapbooks - nobody is really overly interested - but Dick says it OK to just do it for myself, and so I continue to enjoy it. 

Pogo.com, my favorite online activity (after e-mail and blogspot, of course). 

Geocaching - Our hobby for the 21st Century ! 

One of our signature cards 

If You Seek a Pleasant Peninsula, Look Around You

If You Seek a Pleasant Peninsula, Look Around You, or Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam, circumspice. This is the well-deserved motto of the State of Michigan. The link above has interesting trivia and important facts about Michigan - I recommend it.

I really have to start taking my camera with me in the car. Today the bay was indescribably beautiful, and the sky was blue and pink and gray - I was really missing my camera. Words just can't describe the scene. That's what made me think of the "pleasant peninsula" thing.

First thing was a visit to Dr. Burke to discuss my latest complaints and to get a blood test. I can't figure out why it is that I always feel better after I talk to him, no matter what he tells me. This time he wants me to have a C-T scan on Friday because he thinks something is "worrisome" (one of his favorite words). I'll do it because I always do what he says, and it's working so far!

Ran some errands, dropped in on Dick at the Agency, and went to visit Mother. She has a new neighbor just moving in today - her name is Onie. Mother reports that McLenithans have been to visit, and she was thrilled. She seemed in a marvelous mood today - quite unusual for her.

Michigan beat Notre Dame in double over-time tonight. Not what you would call a commanding performance!

Dion Harris'catch-and-shoot three-pointer as time expired in the second overtime gave the Michigan men's basketball team an 87-84 win over Notre Dame in the NIT second round Monday, March 20, in Crisler Arena. The Wolverines, who trailed by double digits in the first half, played catch-up in the second period and finally pulled ahead on a triple from Daniel Horton, who finished with 29 points. Harris, Lester Abram and Chris Hunter each had 15 points for U-M, which hosts Miami (Fla.) in a quarterfinal at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Spring arrived at 1:26 EST today. Snow is predicted for the next three days. Go figure. Happy Spring

Bright Blue

Another crisp, sunny, blue sky day. Visited Mother, tried to find a cache, watched basketball.

Mother and I looked through catalogs and picked some spring clothes to order- that was fun.

The cache eludes us still. Dick thinks that it's gone.

In basketball, the upsets continue.

I'm Number One!

For at least a half an hour, I'm all alone in First Place in the Gen Family Bracket Challenge! This is so hard to believe, I can't even tell you. It won't last, but it's fun for now. (See link above.)

This morning we went for a ride to the Fife Lake area to scout out a hiding place for a cache. We're working on a Shore to Shore cache series which will consist of 12 caches along the Shore to Shore Hiking Trail from Empire to AuSable. We're doing the four western caches, DinoDuo will do the middle four, and James and Sheryl the eastern section. It's an ambitious project, and we'll all have all kinds of fun doing it.

Ate lunch at the Fife Lake Inn - came home to watch basketball!

FTF

Hey! We went for a ride and wound up being the First to Find a new cache. That's always fun. The cache was at the Acme Park.

It was also fun to drive around downtown and watch the St.Paddy's day pub-crawlers crawling from pub to pub. The craziest thing was that even though the temperature was in the 30s, these folks were walking around with no coats on - and some of the pubs aren't that close together! Oh well, everyone looked to be enjoying the activity, especially the girl with the foam beer mug for a hat, and the people with green everywhere - necklaces, leis, hats, and clothes. We were there quite early, and I can just imagine how things picked up afterwards! We came home and staidly ate our corned beef and cabbage.

Michigan State was blindsided by George Mason U.(?) in their first round tournament game - it's really a shame because State has the talent to go farther in my opinion. It's upsetting everyone's brackets, too. It's a big shock. This from msuspartans.collegesports.com:

3/17/06
Michigan State Falls To George Mason, 75-65
George Mason sure proved it belonged in the NCAA tournament. Despite critical comments by some experts that it should not have gotten an at-large berth, the 11th-seeded Patriots used hot shooting, a balanced attack and a surprising rebounding superiority to upset sixth-seeded Michigan State 75-65 Friday night in the first round.

Morale Booster

My High School girlfriends keep in touch by way of a round robin letter. It takes almost a full year for the letter to make the rounds. There are 13 in our group, and the name of our club was the SLGs. This time, Freda emailed her letter in addition to sticking it in the mail, and the first paragraph really got to me - Freda always did have a way with words! Anyway, these are words that mean a lot to me on the eve of my 70th birthday! Please pardon my sentimentality.
Here's Freda's first paragraph:

I was really struck this time, even more than usual, as I read the wonderful Robin letters, by just how awe-inspiring you all are! And what a fascinating privilege it has been and is to witness and participate in the life journeys of the SLG’s -- girlfriends still, after all these decades. Our letters show deep interests, vibrancy of living, compassion, love, caring, diligence, lots of humor, appreciation of all that we have, and a mental balance and depth of character that get us through the really tough times in our lives (these seem to increase as we age). Three Cheers for the SLG’S!!!

A Day for Errands

Just a few good errands to run today - recycling, library, cruise downtown, visit Mother, Staples, and groceries. It might not sound like much, but it took all afternoon!

At the library I got a passel of genealogy books - I'm working on the Geib family tree - and I can't go back farther than Nicholas. I think I'll have to visit Germany.

It was a beautiful, crisp, sunny late winter day. The bay was deep, deep blue, with whitecaps - a beautiful sight.

Mother's world is shrinking before our very eyes. She sits in her chair in the corner of her room all day long every day. She has no interest in socializing or venturing beyond her door. Her conversation revolves around which caretaker is on duty, who is out in the hall, and how horrible the food is. She's not interested in very much else.

Dick fixed ribs for dinner - what a treat. I think that was the end of the ribs from the last use of the smoker. When the weather gets a little more spring-like I hope he'll do some more.

It's fun watching the first round of March Madness. I'm watching the Michigan game on my laptop. They're leading by 10 at the half.

Update: Final - Michigan 82 UTEP 67

Michigan plays Notre Dame Monday @ 7 p.m. @ Crisler.

This from mgoblue.com:

Chris Hunter scored a team-high 20 points, Dion Harris added 18, and Daniel Horton had 14 as the Michigan men's basketball team handled Texas-El Paso, 82-67, in the NIT first round Thursday, March 16, in Crisler Arena. With Harris and Horton each hitting three triples and combining for 21 points in the first half, the Wolverines owned a 44-34 lead at the break, and Hunter took over in the second half, scoring 14 of his points. Brent Petway added 10 points for U-M, which will host Notre Dame at 7 p.m. Monday, March 20.

Clean and Shiny

My dental hygienist did her thing today, so my teeth are in pristine condition. It was fun to hear how her family is doing, and her plans for St. Patrick's Day. Dr. Kevin wasn't there today, but fortunately we really didn't need him.

Dick had a Medicare presentation this afternoon at Central Methodist. This group seemed more informed than any other group we have seen. There were 25 people there, and most of them were very elderly. One lovely lady was 95 years old. Dick is still feeling the effects of his heart cath somewhat, but he did a great job, and he's glad to be home now!

Jana called on her way to Philly for a conference. She wanted directions from mapquest.

Yippee!

Dick had the angioplasty today with the best possible results! He has a slight enlargement which can be treated with medication - so no surgery and no stents! The Doctor said that he had a strong heart. Yippee!

He's happy to be back home,and he's feeling well. He has to avoid exerting himself for the next week, so we'll be taking it easy.

I picked my brackets this morning. The team I picked to win the championship is not really my favorite, and the Big Ten didn't fare too well in my brackets either, so I'll be making some adjustments - probably right up until the last minute.

Michigan is a #1 seed in the NIT (see link above). Their first game will be Thursday
at Crisler @ 7 p.m.

Blue Sky Day

Right after lunch we went to visit Mother. She's fine. I got her to talk a little bit about some family history - mostly Aunt Nellie Geib and Uncle Frank Geib - siblings of my Grandpa. She has such a good memory of days gone by.

We had a chance to visit with Julius, the 102 year old who lives across the hall. He wheeled in to say hello. He was reminiscing about the big flu epidemic of 1918! He would have been 14 at the time. Margaret, who we think suffers from dementia, wandered in to say hello - she wants to go home to West Salem Ohio, which she says is only 4 miles away. I told her that this was Michigan, and she looked at me like she doubted my sanity. She said, "My mother dropped me off here, and I'm as mad as the dickens." Or maybe as mad as the March Hare.

It was a gorgeous day - temp was 45+ most of the day - blue sky and lots of sunshine. We did a couple of caches in town and then went out on the peninsula to check out the Peninsula Twp. Park and to do another cache. Dick is checking out all of the local parks which have pavilions to help prepare for the MIGO Fall Fun Day next October. He thinks that Chad has already decided to use Camp Greilick though.

We tried to find a cache at Muncie Lakes, but we struck out. We found a decoy cache that said "You're getting warm", but we couldn't come up with the real one.

By this time we were getting hungry, so we went to Peegeo's and had the steak special - it really hit the spot. We were sitting where we could see the TV - I was stunned to see that Iowa had beaten Ohio State this afternoon to win the Big Ten Championship. Those OSU fans are probably crying in their beer.

The brackets for March Madness were just chosen, and Michigan is nowhere to be seen. (See link above.) Oh well, it's just as well - we figure they wouldn't have gone far at all. So now we're crying in our beer, too! Maybe they can win the NIT. (heavy sigh)

Third Weekend of Socials

For the third weekend in a row we were off to a geocaching meet and greet. Today's event was in Houghton Lake (see link above). This one was particularly fun for me because eight of our favorite geocaching buddies were there - four terrific couples -Tim and Susie, Marty and Don, Frank and Peggy, and James and Sheryl. There were lots of other really great old friends there too and several new (really young!) friends.

The potluck lunch was enjoyable and delicious, the kids were cute, the babies were adorable, and a great time was had by all. Dick especially enjoyed watching everybody bowling, or trying to! I think he had more fun than anyone!

We found five caches on the way home, and we were back here by 6:30. A very pleasant day.

Jan Howard

Our old camping "buddy" has passed away. When our kids were little, many Belleville teachers and their families went camping with us in the Smokies every Easter vacation. We sometimes had as many as 25 people from 4 or 5 families walking down a mountain trail. Our funniest stories, memories, and campfire reminiscences almost always involved George and Jan. George had the ability to crack everyone up with his dry wit ("How are we going to torture ourselves today?" and "Throw some Coleman fuel on that fire and we can all spend the night in a nice warm hospital!"), and Jan was amusing in her own way. She will not be forgotten. This obit is from the Cheboygan newspaper:

Janet L. Howard, 65
CHEBOYGAN - Janet L. Howard, age 65 of Burt Lake, passed away Wednesday, March 8, 2006 at Cheboygan Memorial Hospital.

She was born Feb. 3, 1941 in Gary, Ind., to Henry and Doretta (Rasmussen) Irving. On March 14, 1964 in Saginaw, Janet married George H. Howard, who survives.

Janet worked as a teacher's aide for the VanBuren Public Schools for 13 years, retiring in 1994. She and George then moved to their home on Burt Lake where they had summered since 1979. She received a bachelor of science degree in occupational therapy from Western Michigan University, where she was a member of the Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority. Janet enjoyed swimming, sewing, woodworking, restoring wood furniture, upholstery, caning, camping and traveling.

Besides her husband, George, Janet is survived by her two children, Kevin (Cathy) Howard of Willis, Mich., and Kristen (Eddie) Antkoviak of Cheboygan; two sisters, Jean (Dr. Wesley) Jackson of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and Melissa (Fred) Marria of West Bloomfield, Mich.; one brother, Dr. William (Lori) Irving of Los Altos Hills, Calif.; and three grandchildren, Jack, Ella and Maci Antkoviak. She was preceded in death by her parents.

A Memorial Service will be conducted at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 at the Nordman Funeral Home in Cheboygan, with the Rev. Jeff Dinner officiating. Visitation will be held two hours prior to the service at the funeral home.

Memorial contributions in Janet's name may be directed to Hospice of the Straits.

Tournament Loss

Yesterday's Big Ten Tournament results for Michigan could really amount to two losses - the game, and the tournament bid. We watched the whole sad thing. Dick gave up on them with 12 minutes left in the second half. I didn't give up until 38 seconds remaining. The team gave up long before that. This excerpt is from the msn.com home page:

Most painful loss: Michigan

Twenty-one turnovers and 18 percent shooting cost the Wolverines an NCAA tournament bid. The loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers, Michigan's seventh defeat in nine games, guarantees Daniel Horton and Dion Harris will play in the NIT rather than the NCAA tournament. Some would like to believe that wins over Illinois and Michigan State keep Horton and Harris on the bubble. But the selection committee strongly prefers clubs with records of better than 3-8 against RPI Top 50 competition and a 5-7 tally away from home.

Dick had his echocardiogram this morning at Grand Traverse Heart Associates. They have a beautiful new building across the street from the Hospital. We'll be doing our bit to help pay for it! :)

Public Schools

For once, here's a rational view of education in the public schools. Some factions love to blame the public schools for all of our nation's ills - it's the fault of the schools, it's the fault of the teachers, etc. Whenever someone acts stupidly, "He's obviously a product of the Public Schools."

Yet how often have we said - my students just don't seem to care. Many parents didn't seem to care - they regarded the school as a babysitter. Dick and I used to say to each other - "I think we care more about these kids learning than anybody else - including the parents, and the kids themselves."

I love this article because it says what we know to be true after spending a combined total of over 50 years in classrooms:

For once, blame the student By Patrick Welsh
Wed Mar 8, 7:08 AM ET



Failure in the classroom is often tied to lack of funding, poor teachers or other ills. Here's a thought: Maybe it's the failed work ethic of todays kids. That's what I'm seeing in my school. Until reformers see this reality, little will change.


Last month, as I averaged the second-quarter grades for my senior English classes at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va., the same familiar pattern leapt out at me.


Kids who had emigrated from foreign countries - such as Shewit Giovanni from Ethiopia, Farah Ali from Guyana and Edgar Awumey from Ghana - often aced every test, while many of their U.S.-born classmates from upper-class homes with highly educated parents had a string of C's and D's.


As one would expect, the middle-class American kids usually had higher SAT verbal scores than did their immigrant classmates, many of whom had only been speaking English for a few years.


What many of the American kids I taught did not have was the motivation, self-discipline or work ethic of the foreign-born kids.


Politicians and education bureaucrats can talk all they want about reform, but until the work ethic of U.S. students changes, until they are willing to put in the time and effort to master their subjects, little will change.


A study released in December by University of Pennsylvania researchers Angela Duckworth and Martin Seligman suggests that the reason so many U.S. students are "falling short of their intellectual potential" is not "inadequate teachers, boring textbooks and large class sizes" and the rest of the usual litany cited by the so-called reformers - but "their failure to exercise self-discipline."


The sad fact is that in the USA, hard work on the part of students is no longer seen as a key factor in academic success. The groundbreaking work of Harold Stevenson and a multinational team at the University of Michigan comparing attitudes of Asian and American students sounded the alarm more than a decade ago.


Asian vs. U.S. students


When asked to identify the most important factors in their performance in math, the percentage of Japanese and Taiwanese students who answered "studying hard" was twice that of American students.


American students named native intelligence, and some said the home environment. But a clear majority of U.S. students put the responsibility on their teachers. A good teacher, they said, was the determining factor in how well they did in math.


"Kids have convinced parents that it is the teacher or the system that is the problem, not their own lack of effort," says Dave Roscher, a chemistry teacher at T.C. Williams in this Washington suburb. "In my day, parents didn't listen when kids complained about teachers. We are supposed to miraculously make kids learn even though they are not working."


As my colleague Ed Cannon puts it: "Today, the teacher is supposed to be responsible for motivating the kid. If they don't learn it is supposed to be our problem, not theirs."


And, of course, busy parents guilt-ridden over the little time they spend with their kids are big subscribers to this theory.


Maybe every generation of kids has wanted to take it easy, but until the past few decades students were not allowed to get away with it. "Nowadays, it's the kids who have the power. When they don't do the work and get lower grades, they scream and yell. Parents side with the kids who pressure teachers to lower standards," says Joel Kaplan, another chemistry teacher at T.C. Williams.


Every year, I have had parents come in to argue about the grades I have given in my AP English classes. To me, my grades are far too generous; to middle-class parents, they are often an affront to their sense of entitlement. If their kids do a modicum of work, many parents expect them to get at least a B. When I have given C's or D's to bright middle-class kids who have done poor or mediocre work, some parents have accused me of destroying their children's futures.


It is not only parents, however, who are siding with students in their attempts to get out of hard work.


Blame schools, too

"Schools play into it," says psychiatrist Lawrence Brain, who counsels affluent teenagers throughout the Washington metropolitan area. "I've been amazed to see how easy it is for kids in public schools to manipulate guidance counselors to get them out of classes they don't like. They have been sent a message that they don't have to struggle to achieve if things are not perfect."

Neither the high-stakes state exams, such as Virginia's Standards of Learning, nor the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act have succeeded in changing that message; both have turned into minimum-competency requirements aimed at the lowest in our school.

Colleges keep complaining that students are coming to them unprepared. Instead of raising admissions standards, however, they keep accepting mediocre students lest cuts have to be made in faculty and administration.

As a teacher, I don't object to the heightened standards required of educators in the No Child Left Behind law. Who among us would say we couldn't do a little better? Nonetheless, teachers have no control over student motivation and ambition, which have to come from the home - and from within each student.

Perhaps the best lesson I can pass along to my upper- and middle-class students is to merely point them in the direction of their foreign-born classmates, who can remind us all that education in America is still more a privilege than a right.

Patrick Welsh is an English teacher at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va., and a member of USA TODAY's board of contributors.




Copyright © 2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Dr. Dino

For me this was a day of sorting through pictures, reading, playing pogo, and watching TV. And for the sorting through pictures part, I was actually sitting in a rocking chair - which kind of adds to the leisurely retirement flavor of my day.

Dick went to see Dr. Dino Recchia, his cardiologist. Dick is scheduled for an echocardiogram on Friday, and a heart catheterization next Monday. We're playing the wait and see game for now. Dr. Dino thinks that Dick may have a blockage, but I'm putting the emphasis on the "may". Dick doesn't have any restrictions, curtailing of activities, or anything like that - so he's just going ahead as usual.

The Good Life

This is a sunny, blue sky kind of a day - we still have a foot of snow on the deck, but I think winter will be over this week. Rain and higher temps are predicted for the end of the week. I went out walking with my ski-walkers, and it was lovely outside. It's fun to see the bunny tracks in the snow criss-crossing the yard. Things are melting - icicles are dripping and falling off the eaves because of the strong sunlight.

Sharon and Kevin have organized another GenFamily NCAA basketball bracket competition - I signed up for it right away. It's one of the most fun things ever! Now I have to research my picks - I don't think that either Michigan or State will be in the sweet sixteen. John W. always picks State to go all the way no matter what - he might be sorry this year.

Update: 9:15 p.m.

Dick worked all day at the Agency - from 9 to 4. When he got home, he said he wanted to crash and then go out to eat at the Olive Garden! Well, we tried - but evidently it's the most popular place in town these days. There was a long wait, so after about 10 minutes we gave back the beeper because we decided not to wait the estimated 25 minutes. We went to Auntie Pasta's, and had a wonderful dinner. The food was yummy and the restaurant was not crowded.

Tomorrow morning Dick has an appointment with the cardiologist.

Sugarbush

We had great weather today for the Geocaching Event "Sugarbush Pancake Brunch" in South Branch at the home of James and Sheryl. (See link above) It was a sunny, windfree, mild day. There were around 40 people there - new caches, a campfire, 4 horses, and home made maple syrup. I enjoyed talking to Ann Arbor Connie about quilting, and to Mrs. Capt. Bud (Marty the First Mate). New friends are always a Good Thing.

Last year I sat on the bench and waited for Dick to go find the cache. This year I walked all the way to the maple syrup cache with the ski-walkers, and I did fine! Then I returned to the campfire while Dick and the Buds found the event cache and the beaver dam. It was fun watching Clatmandu and Sunshine feeding carrots to the horses. The pancakes were terrific, but the meeting afterwards was the most fun because of the auction and the raffle and the door prize and all of the associated jokes and comments.

The Trip Home

Another cold, crisp day. We did 6 caches this morning before 11 a.m. in the Alma/Mt. Pleasant area. It was a really fun time despite the chill.

Uneventful drive home - OK, I slept most of the way.

Stopped to shop in Kingsley. Northland Foods has become a great place to shop - nice selection of things and great meats.

MiGo Winter Social 2006

This was a very enjoyable 12 hour day! We began by finding 9 caches in the Alma/St.Louis area. It was very windy and cold here today. In a couple of cases I was afraid that the cache contents would blow all over the surrounds. Once we almost lost the lid of the cache container - it blew across the bridge and narrowly missed falling into the river. We were very successful, and found so many so fast it was almost a new record. I'm sure it was a new record for 2006 because we haven't been out caching much at all so far this year.

I used my new ski-walking poles and that was successful too. I enjoyed it, and the poles enabled me to walk along the paths just like a real person. I love it when I can be there to sign the logbook. I look forward to using them more often when the weather is a bit more spring-like.

The Winter Social was well-attended. (See link above) We overheard numbers like 190 adults and 43 children. That's not official. Note to Jana: I wasn't the fattest or the ugliest, but I think I just may have been the oldest. (Family Joke) There were so many darling babies and toddlers there - it's delightful to watch them. WolverineWarriors brought baby Alexis, who is seven weeks and one day old! How much fun is that?!

The main event was a two-hour scavenger hunt consisting of 6 loops - 3 walking loops and 3 driving loops. We opted for driving loops because of the bitterly chilly weather. We did really well, I thought. We did two complete loops and had a lot of fun doing it. We didn't win anything but we really enjoyed it. Dick was especially happy to notice that while we were out driving around, the price of gas in Alma dropped by 2 cents a gallon!

We enjoyed talking to Coychev, Trashcan, Radman, Sleepy Weasel, GeoHills, and UsTwo among others too numerous to mention. We missed DinoDuo - her mom's funeral was today at 1:30. We collected some things for them as souvenirs. Lydia and I had fun cruising the silent auction. All of the items that appealed to me had final bids that were too high. The giant geocoin went for over $160.00!! We were the high bidders on two small items. Both of them were cache containers.

I noticed that there were more men than women interested in the auction, which was amusing to me. At one time I glanced over there and almost everyone at the auction tables was a male wearing a navy MiGo tee shirt and a khaki MiGo hat. There must have been a dozen of them. I think that even the great MiGo quilt had a male high bidder. I kind of wanted the tea set but the other bidder talked me out of it by saying that she wanted to buy it as a wedding gift. I'm such a softie for weddings!

By the time dinner and the business meeting were over it was after 8 p.m. and we were happy to head back to the Comfort Inn, which, by the way, is described as the "upscale" motel in Alma!

It was a day for reflection. While we were doing the scavenger hunt, Susie was at her Mom's funeral, Michigan was losing to Ohio State in basketball, and the price of gas plummeted - all of these concurrently. My mind was pre-occupied by all of it.

This from mgoblue:

Sims Records Double-Double in Road Loss to Buckeyes
Courtney Sims records his fourth double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds in a 64-54 loss at No. 13 Ohio State (February 25).

On the Road Again

Dick worked at the Visitor Center this morning, and I went to visit Mother. She cracks me up sometimes - it's hard to keep a straight face. I asked her if she had watched the Olympic figure skating last night. She said, "Yes. A lot of those girls are foreign." Oh please!

Then we got all packed up to head for Alma for the annual MiGo Winter Social. The drive was generally uneventful, although there was kind of a heavy snowfall beginning in Cadillac.

We couldn't find a really good-looking place to eat. We decided that we'd go to Ponderosa since we hadn't been there for ages. It served to remind us why we don't go to Ponderosa!

Outing

The librarian at the East Jordan Public Library wanted to learn how to enroll people in a Part D Drug Plan, so she called the Agency and made an appointment with Dick to meet with her this morning at 10:00 at the library in East Jordan. He told me that if I went with him, he would take me out to lunch! Who could resist? It takes us a little over an hour to drive there, and we had to stop for gas, so we were a little late arriving. The library is on the same grounds with their wonderful new High School that we visited on the evening of November 30.

While he was closeted with the librarians, I was out in the reading room reading magazines. They had some great ones - cooking, quilting, scrapbooking, and antiques roadshow for example. I copied recipes - apricot chicken, buttery garlic potatoes, three beans and sausage in the slow cooker, and rich creamy macaroni and cheese for example. The scrapbooking magazine yielded many websites for me to research, some cyber coupons for nice discounts, and sites for free fonts. I felt it was a very productive 2 hours.

Lunch was at the LumberJack Grill - I just had a burger, and Dick had a taco salad. By now the sun had come out, and it was beautiful for the drive home. It's 35 degrees today - almost feels like spring. Not really.

W for Michigan

Michigan played Illinois tonight, and we never expected a win, especially after the poor showing on Saturday. (Once burned, twice shy.) We were pleasantly surprised - it was a good win - well played and fun to watch. (Daniel Horton, Daniel Horton) This from mgoblue.com:

In a matchup involving two of the top point guards in men's college basketball, it was Michigan's Daniel Horton who earned the spotlight Tuesday, Feb. 21, scoring a career-high 39 points to lead the Wolverines to a 72-64 upset of Dee Brown's No. 8-ranked Illinois squad in Crisler Arena. Horton scored 25 points after intermission as Michigan overcame a 34-30 halftime deficit to post its first win over a Top 10 team since 1998-99. Courtney Sims added 11 points and Graham Brown had 10 rebounds for U-M (18-7, 8-6 Big Ten).

Mothers

Susie's Mom died this morning - we are so sorry for their loss. She was 81 years old. (Only 11 years older than I am!) They had just gotten her comfortable at home with hospice care, and it seemed unexpected to me, even though it was expected. Does that make sense?

It serves to remind me how fantastically lucky we are to still have our Mother at age 97. Mother does fade in and out of drowsiness, but when she's lucid, she's very much on top of things. Yesterday I took the finished quilt up to show her - she was highly impressed. (She's easily impressed.) She wanted me to show it to everyone, which I politely declined. It would be just my luck to show it off to someone who's a master quilter! Anyway, the point is, that even at my age, I still want to please my Mother.

Anne May Metters
` Anne M. Metters, 81, of Coldwater, died Monday, February 20, 2006 at her home. She was born March 10, 1924 to Earl and Doris (Bois) Price in Gratiot County, Michigan. She grew up in Ithaca, Michigan and graduated from Ithaca High School in 1942. She married Paul Metters on May 3, 1946 in Ithaca. They moved to Coldwater in 1962. Anne was a homemaker for most of her life. She worked as a L.P.N. for a short time in Dr. Mooi`s office in Coldwater. She enjoyed playing bridge, square dancing, and golfing. Anne was an avid swimmer and even water-skied into her late 40s. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church where she served as a volunteer with the Church Circle group. They served charities such as Meals on Wheels and various others. She was a Cub Scout Den Mother as well as a Sunday School teacher. Anne is survived by her husband Paul, sons Jerry (Vicky) Metters of Bloomfield Hills, Joseph Metters and Peter Metters, both of Royal Oak, daughter Susie (Tim) Swedine of Jackson, half sister Connie Reed of Auburn, Indiana, 4 grandchildren, and 3 great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents and 3 brothers. Visitation for Anne Metters will be held on Friday, February 24, 2006 from 2-4 and 6-8 P.M. at the Putnam Funeral Home in Coldwater. Services will be held 11:00 A.M. on Saturday, February 25, 2006 at the funeral home. Rev. Dr. James Troust of the First Presbyterian Church in Coldwater will officiate. Memorial contributions may be directed to CHC Hospice or The American Heart Association. `

Olympic Thoughts

During the 2006 Winter Olympics we have had two athletes who have let down their respective teams by virtue of being typical American "hot dogs". Bode Miller was the favorite to win a gold medal in downhill skiing, and he finished out of the medals. He shrugged his shoulders and said he didn't care, and that it saved him a trip all the way down to Turin to attend the medal ceremony. He crashed in another event, and straddled a gate in the slalom. He's currently 0 - 4 which is fine, except we keep hearing rumors that he stays out late and parties before competing.

Meanwhile, Lindsey Jacobellis had the gold medal locked up in the women's snowboard cross, and by doing a special tricky method right at the end, fell and got the silver medal instead. She shrugged her shoulders and said the equivalent of "Oh well". They are both extremely cute, talented, athletic, cool, cocky, full of attitude and probably lots of fun at parties. You just have to love them. But they don't seem to be taking the Olympic Games all that seriously.

In addition to Lindsey and Bode, there are two other members of the USA Women's Ski Team who seem bent on expressing their individuality as they compete. Julie Mancuso skis wearing a tiara on her helmet. She says it's her "good luck charm". Resi Stiegler skis wearing a pearl necklace. Try that in the NCAA!

I guess I really like the attitude of other athletes from home and abroad who just seem somehow more "Olympian". Maybe it's a sign of my advancing age - I just have to go tsk tsk and shake my finger at everyone.

This author from the LA Times says it much better than I could:

X mars the sport
One spectator has had enough of those 'extreme' athletes at the Winter Olympics.
By Kevin Drum
KEVIN DRUM writes the blog Political Animal at www.washingtonmonthly.com.

February 22, 2006

AM I THE ONLY one who's finally had it with all the recent X Games additions to the Winter Olympics? You know the ones I'm talking about: the "sports" that seem to be more about demonstrating a politically correct hipster attitude than about antediluvian concepts such as competing to win. The current hall of shame includes aerials, moguls, halfpipe, parallel giant slalom and a ratings-friendly newcomer called snowboard cross.

I know it's probably bogus to be harshing on these sports — and vaguely unpatriotic as well — because without them the United States would be doing only slightly better than Estonia at Torino. But I can't bottle it up anymore. Call me stodgy, but it's not a sport if the competitors aren't serious about winning, and the X Games crowd just isn't serious about winning.

Don't believe me? Start with the outfits they wear. Serious athletes wear clothing that maximizes their freedom of movement and therefore their chances of winning. Say what you will about the full-body spandex suits worn by speed skaters, but they stuff themselves into those suits because the outfits help them shave tenths of a second off their time.

But the snowboarders are having none of it. Instead, they wear the same faux-urban-chic-meets-Nanook uniforms that they'd wear for a day of casual shredding at Mammoth. Can anyone pretend with a straight face that these uniforms are the best possible choice for athletes who are serious about winning a competition? Or for judges trying to decide whether a competitor deserves a 9.1 or a 9.2?

And then there's the iPod thing. Last Monday, when Hannah Teter won her gold medal in the halfpipe competition, I was gibbering at the TV set as usual when I suddenly noticed a couple of strings floating around Teter's head. "What's that?" I asked my wife. "Is a faux iPod look part of the uniform too?"

Nope. Nothing faux about it. Teter was wearing a real iPod. During competition. And the official NBC Olympics site informs me that this is common. I don't know if anyone has ever lost a competition because his iPod suddenly shuffled to a song he didn't like or because his earphones fell off during an inverted cab 900, but it wouldn't surprise me.

The final nail in the X sports coffin, though, was last Friday's travesty during women's snowboard cross, a latter-day mash-up of downhill skiing and roller derby. After the usual couple of wipeouts at the top of the course in the final run, American Lindsey Jacobellis was more than 100 feet ahead of the field and ready to coast to an easy gold medal.

But she didn't. In the world of X, demonstrating the proper I'm-just-here-to-party pose is more important than winning, and Jacobellis, who has apparently thoroughly absorbed this ethic, decided to demonstrate her mastery of ripper 'tude with a "method air" on the next-to-last jump. As all the world knows, she biffed the landing and then watched helplessly as Swiss snow-crosser Tanja Frieden passed her by.

And Jacobellis' explanation? "I was having fun," she told reporters afterward. "I messed up. Oh well, it happens."

In a real sport, "I was having fun" wouldn't cut it as an explanation. But then, in a real sport you'd dress to win, you'd ditch the iPod and you'd concentrate on the finish line instead of showboating for your homies. Bottom line: If they don't care about winning — or even if they're just pretending they don't care about winning — why should I care whether they win?

There. It felt good to get that off my chest. Please direct all hate mail to t.j.simerslatimes.com.


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Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times

My English friend Mitchy is more understanding about this topic than I am. (see comments) Maybe my attitude and Kevin Drum's attitude stem from the Vince Lombardi influence: "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing."

EXPO

Because we're thinking about putting new counter tops in the kitchen, we went to the Home Builders' Expo today to gather information and get free pens (!). It's a very popular event - it's held at East Junior High, and when we got there, the parking lot was totally full. Luckily for us, they have shuttle buses (school buses) over to the parking lot at nearby Cherry Knoll Elementary School. What a great idea! We enjoyed walking around and talking to all of the Corian/granite/quartz/engineered products people. Right now, we seem to be leaning toward one of the engineered products because of ease of maintenance.

The Expo is very well organized and it's arranged so that it's easy to visit all five of the areas and see all of the displays and pick up everybody's free pens! The Junior High is a beautiful venue - clean and shiny and well designed. We've enjoyed the Expo every time we've gone.

The sun is shining brightly today, with a beautiful bright blue sky. This morning at our house the temp was 4 below zero. As we were driving to the Expo, the temp had shot up all the way to 6F! When we left, we headed toward town, and East Bay was a gorgeous turquoise color - a nice change from the gray waters of January.

Downtown was jammed with people - and I had thought everybody was at the Expo! We went to the U&I for lunch, and it was packed too. Then we realized that after all it is Saturday, which probably accounts for the crowds everywhere we went. Note to self - go out to lunch during the week! The food was luscious, and we had a great time, even though we had to park over on the other side of the river! It was crowded downtown is what I'm telling you.

The University of Michigan men's basketball team is playing State in East Lansing this afternoon at 4 p.m. (shudder)
Update:

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The University of Michigan men's basketball team dropped a 90-71 decision at No. 16 Michigan State, Saturday (Feb. 18), at the Breslin Center to split the season series. The second match-up between these intrastate rivals was a shoot-out with the Wolverines (17-7, 7-6) edged slightly from the floor, shooting 51.9 percent (28-of-54) overall compared to the Spartans' (19-7, 7-5 Big Ten) 54.7 percent (35-of-64). While both teams shot in similar fashion, Michigan State's pressure inside and advantage on the glass helped them overtake the Wolverines.

Some Good News, Some Bad News

I finished the quilt this morning! I finished the quilt this morning! I finished the quilt this morning! Yippee!! It looks OK as long as you're not expecting perfection! All that's left is to cut off the stray threads, press it, and clean up the quilting area.

We've had winter storm after winter storm. We're buried. Dick has been out all morning with the snow blower and the tractor trying to dig us out. Snow is still coming down. More snow is predicted, and low, low temperatures. Tomorrow is supposed to be the coldest day of the year. It seems as though winter came about two months late this year. This is not a complaint!

Dr. Lambert called Dick yesterday to say that the stress test shows some heart damage from a previous event, we don't know when. He says there's no evidence of a current problem, but the previous damage has decreased the output of the old pump. The Doctor is going to hook us up with a cardiologist for evaluation. (In my crystal ball I see testing in Dick's future.)

Mary Luanne McManus Peoples Van Avery reports the passing of another SLG husband. Cuyler Miller, husband of Sandy Youker died last Wednesday at his home in South Bend. So far we have lost Mary's husband Glenn (Digger) Peoples, Sandy N.'s husband Gene Neibaur, and Margo's husband Sherm Janke. So now there are four gone out of thirteen. Too many, too soon, too young. Mary emailed to remind me that Donna has also lost her beloved companion Bill.

Cuyler's obituary in the South Bend Tribune:

Article published Feb 17, 2006
Lloyd Cuyler Miller
July 8, 1934 - Feb. 15, 2006


Cuyler Miller, 71, of South Bend, passed away at 9:05 p.m. Wednesday, February 15, 2006, in his home.

Cuyler worked for the Bendix Corporation right out of high school and then after college he worked in the summers for the South Bend Parks Department while teaching school and coaching for Greene Township, Lakeville, and many of the South Bend schools. He retired in 1991 after spending his last 10 years of 34 at the original Nuner Elementary School in River Park.

Cuyler was born on July 8, 1934, in South Bend, to the late Lloyd “Gus” and Thelma (Nye) Miller, and had lived in this area most of his life.

On February 2, 1957, in Traverse City, MI, he married Sandra Youker, who survives. Also surviving are one daughter, Judy Lynn (Kelly) Low of Niles MI; one son, Michael (Laurie Jo) Miller of Warren, OH; five grandchildren, Andrew, Kyle and Emily Low, and Ryan and Christopher Miller; a brother-in-law, Alan “Bud” Schwalm of Mishawaka; a sister-in-law, Sharon Dean of Traverse City, MI; and several nieces and nephews.

Two sisters, Donna Schwalm and Betty Lou Miller, preceded him in death.

Services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, in the Palmer Funeral Home, 2528 Mishawaka Ave., South Bend. Rev. Kathy Miller will officiate. Burial will follow at St. Joseph Valley Memorial Park, Granger, IN. Friends may call from 5 to 8 p.m. today in the funeral home.

Cuyler was a 1952 graduate from John Adams High School and attended Ventura Junior College in Ventura, CA. He earned his BA and master's from Western Michigan University where he played college basketball.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Center for Hospice & Palliative Care, 111 Sunnybrook Court, South Bend, IN 46637; to the Humane Society of St. Joseph County, 2506 Grape Road, Mishawaka, IN 46545; or to the charity of choice.


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Let It Snow

The world is a beautiful place when you get the kind of snow that covers every branch and twig. All day yesterday I felt like I was driving around in some kind of a snowy fairyland - like Narnia. I had a perm in the morning while Dick was at the Agency. We met for lunch at Bubba's, a most enjoyable experience. We brought home enough food for supper - and it was still delicious at supper time.

I went to visit Mother - we had a nice conversation about the residents and the helpers at Concord - it's really all she's interested in anymore, although she does love to hear the Dylan stories. She seems much improved since her bout with the flu.

Barb is also feeling better and has gone back to work part time. Such good news! And Laurie's biopsy was benign, so things are looking up in all directions.

We have more snow predicted for the next two days. There is a winter storm watch (warning?) for today and tomorrow - today all of the Traverse City schools are closed. Dick has prepared to be snowed in - we have all the ingredients for his patented veggie-beef soup which we call "Too Good to be Soup", and two wheelbarrows full of wood outside the back door. So bring it on - let it snow.

Deadeye Dick

Last weekend our esteemed and exalted (not) vice-president Dick Cheney shot his friend while quail hunting. This is such an unbelievable story...it will blow over quickly I think, especially now that Cheney has acknowledged that it happened (on the fourth day after the event). The humorists are having a field day - it just invites satire and irony. My favorite "report" about the shooting is this blog that Dick found in a newspaper on line. I especially love the first sentence! (And the last paragraph!)

Deadeye Dick Cheney

As you know, quail hunting is what passes for military service in the upper ranks of the Bush Administration. Dick Cheney knows what it is like to fire a weapon in anger, particularly when the birds flush from the bracken unexpectedly. George W. Bush has flown airplanes, many of them folded from his personal stationery. Donald Rumsfeld has piloted boats and submarines through seemingly impenetrable mounds of suds. And so on.

Now, as you have surely heard by now, the Vice President this weekend had a slight mishap while hunting , in that he committed the faux pas of pointing his shotgun in the direction of a friend of his. Also he pulled the trigger. Sort of, you know, shot the guy. In the face. "Peppered" him, in the quaint vernacular of the sport. The fellow is doing fine at the hospital. But right here's what's wrong with the mainstream media: The stories don't tell us whether Cheney managed, in the process, to bag the bird. Seems to me that our sense of the man's overall competence pivots on that crucial unreported factoid. Who cares about his friend, did he hit the target???

I find the story reassuring. Cheney is a man who doesn't just talk the talk. No, if he's going to send American soldiers into harm's way, where they might be shot at any moment by a deranged fanatic, he's also going to do the same thing to his close personal friends. He's giving his hunting buddies a taste of life in the Cheney Era, when you count yourself lucky just to get out alive.

Torino 2006

Dick and I worked on measuring and squaring up the quilt today - we only had one melt-down (me). I was a nervous wreck because it involved cutting...eeek! But the quilt is square. Hooray!

The winter olympics are in full swing. Thanks to TiVo, we can watch most of the coverage with no commercials - a real time-saver. I've enjoyed the skiing, the speed skating, ski-jumping, luge, and to a lesser extent the figure skating. I never expected to be so fascinated by the snow-boarding, but it was intriguing, and so much fun to watch.

The Opening Ceremonies were fantastic. I've heard critics say that the ceremonies were a bit over the top, and maybe some of it was, but it was so much fun to watch the flaming skaters, the alpenhorns, the acrobats on the rings, the 4th grade girl singing the Italian national anthem, the "living" ski jumper, and Luciano was the icing on the cake.

Dick and I both enjoyed watching the march of the athletes - in my opinion France won the good-looking uniforms award. The hats of the USA team are a little silly this year.

Happy Valentine's Day! We went out to dinner at La Senorita. Also, we got a darling valentine from Dylan - a big hug by mail.