Nathanael Continues His Mat
Success
I still call him "my little guy." When I say that, I recall
how he would run between my legs from behind, when he was
short enough to do it, and that was our agreed upon signal
that it was time to give him a shoulder ride. When
students hear me call him that, they invariably ask me how
old he is. They are surprised (and so am I) when I
tell them my little guy is eighteen!
 Nate
finished his regular season of wrestling with a solid 20-8
record. The team went 8-2 in dual meets. It was a good
year for BCS. The picture above shows him wrestling
his first girl (Kat) at the 16-school Meridian High School "Great
Northern Invitational" where he placed 5th. I joined
the team on a Friday bus ride to Bellingham and slept on the
mats with them. If the coaches can do it, so can I.
This year Nathanael became a master of "the cradle" move.
Even in matches he lost he was able to get "back points" by
tying up his opponents with this move. At the left he
puts a good move on the 142 pound Cascade
Christian wrestler. His pin in that match moved BCS
into the lead with just one match to go, which BCS lost.
But since it was a full 6 points for the pin, it allowed BCS
to hold on to win 37-36. He used the cradle
(below) on the Tacoma Baptist fellow early in January.
In many matches this season Nate was asked to "wrestle up."
That is, to take on an opponent at 140 or 142 pounds instead
of 135 or 137 which was where he weighed in. The coach
trusted Nate to get the job done, and it allowed freshman
Andy Altig to wrestle at 135.
The first three weekends in February are the post-season.
The "Sub-Regionals" or "Tri-District" championships are
February 3-4 in Orting. Nancy and I will sleep at Jon
(nephew) and Sarah Sleight's house in Puyallup on Friday
night. Only the top 5 advance to the "Regionals" way
down at Castle Rock near Kelso the following weekend.
And only the top six from Regionals move on to the State
Championships at the Tacoma Dome on February 16-17.
I'll stay busy as I have the job of organizing my team
photos and Nancy's video into the end-of-season multi-media
show at the awards banquet. I like to say, "Everybody
needs a hobby." But I admit, I love the affirmation I
get from the kids and especially from their parents. |
Snow Disrupts My Teaching
The kids sure enjoyed a long snow and ice induced
school holiday this month. I also lost a Tuesday
teaching day. My BUS 1700 class only meets once a week
(on Tuesdays) so this quarter has been quite awkwardly
impacted. We had our initial class meeting on January
9th and then did not meet again until January 23rd.
This happened on the second-to-last day of the quarter in
November as well, shortening my three autumn classes.
It sure makes for a nice picture out the south window in the
living room though.
December '06 Quote
"Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those
who fear,
too long for those who grieve, too short for those who
rejoice,
but for those who love, time is eternity."
"Use the talents you possess,
for
the woods would be
very silent if no birds sang
except the best."
Henry Jackson van Dyke
(1852-1933)
Presbyterian pastor, professor of literature, ambassador,
author of the hymn
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.
 |
Christmas "Toys" Arrive in January
With my Christmas money I bought an "Xitel Import Deluxe
Audio Recording Kit." It's a little gizmo (and related
software) that allows me to connect my record player through
my stereo to my laptop so that I can convert songs from my
many LPs to .wav files and eventually to .mp3 files.
Those old songs will find new life
— if I can ever find time to do
the conversions. I've only done three songs so far,
but at least I know it works.
I also got a replacement MP3
player. My old Rio Sport died when I took it out in a
rain storm. The new one is a 1GB Creative "Zen"
player. Small and a good value at around $60 from
Amazon.com.
I Saw Comet McNaught!
I rushed home on Friday the
12th to catch Comet McNaught at its closest approach to the
Sun. I almost missed it (and my camera didn't catch much of
it) but Nancy spotted it from where we stood atop a cold
Clyde Hill at sunset. She had seen it clearly earlier
in the week. Space.com said on January 14th that
"Comet
McNaught
is now the brightest comet in 40 years, according to the
International Comet Quarterly at the Harvard-Smithsonian
Center for Astrophysics."
And I saw it!
The place to really see the
comet in January was from the Southern Hemisphere. The
shot below was taken from New Zealand.
Like my shot above, it was taken at dusk through lots of
atmosphere on the horizon. Next time I'll get a better
tripod and a
Nikon ML-L3 Wireless Remote (which is on my wish list.)
◄ When Jeannie Beth gets a hold
of my camera, there's usually only one model she wants to
shoot: Diana. |
