The Journal of Dr. Richard L. Sleight

March 2018

 
 
          
 

Who Lives, Who Dies,
Who Tells Your Story?

Let me tell you what I wish I’d known
When I was young and dreamed of glory
You have no control, who lives, who dies, who tells your story?

That's the opening line to the last song from the musical Hamilton.  I took Nancy to the Paramount Theater on Wednesday night, March 14th, for our 37th anniversary.  It was certainly our most expensive night out ever.  The musical grew on me.  Well into the second act, the story began to impact me emotionally.  The musical style was not one I found pleasing.  But the story was compelling and in the end it won me over.  The packed audience, however, was ecstatic.

What a wonderful teaching tool for history.  Hamilton has captivated audiences and one fan in particular, our own Jean.

When I heard that last song, I thought of this Journal.  My story will be available to my family beyond my time here.

Waiting for "Ungy"

Charis (at 3 months) is doing her part to train "Ungy's" parents on the realities of babies.  Ungy is the placeholder name Nathanael and Cynthia have been using for their son. 

Construction Around Our Neighborhood

We will soon be hemmed in on the east and west by construction.  Our old utility pole at our northwest property corner was replaced a few days early as it toppled into the big maple tree at 1307 99th.  A huge vacuum digging truck prepared the hole and planted the new pole at dusk.  I was home alone to enjoy the hour-long power outage that followed.  I expect construction to replace the Frickel house (1234 99th Ave NE) to begin soon.

Speaking of 1307 99th Ave. NE, it is for sale.  The high tech couple, Miladin and Kelly, that we met in December 2014, have apparently moved out.  They are asking $3,488,000 for their 5,386 square foot home on its 8,816 sq. ft. lot — less than half the size of our lot.

Our house still towers over the new construction at 1225 100th NE on our east side, but Jean reminds us that we'll need to install more substantial curtains now!  The morning photo looking west (below right) shows the third floor just going on, and it already hides our big house.  The shot (left), taken from our north patio shows our big new neighbor.

The apartment building at 100th Ave NE and NE 10th Street seems nearly complete.  It's been a few months since anyone has been able to walk on the east side of 100th.  This is surely part of a trend as light rail heads to downtown Bellevue.  Downtown and west Bellevue will become increasingly dense in apartments and condos.


Andrew Vroman Comes to Visit

Jean's special friend from New York flew to Seattle for a weekend visit, and to catch Jean as Horatio in this months Fern Shakespeare Company run of Hamlet.

Andrew is likeable, and is of the same personality type as Thomas and Nathanael, INFP.  It means you have to ask questions to learn more about them.  I learned that his alma mater is Siena College of Loudonville, NY, a suburb just north of Albany.  It is a Roman Catholic institution similar to Seattle University or Gonzaga, except that Siena is affiliated with the Franciscans instead of the Jesuits, a significant difference at least in Church history.  Andrew does not confess a Christian faith of any flavor.  But gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit, so there's hope.  But except for "Siena", the rest I learned from the Internet.  Like Thomas and Nathanael, Andrew is a quiet fellow.


Susan's Herd

On a visit to Susan's this month, Thomas spotted this herd of six dear in her yard.  Alas, every time I go outside to photograph them, they scamper off.

Jean Stars as Horatio,
Hamlet's Friend

Hamlet is the Winter/Spring production of the Fern Shakespeare Company.  Jean is not only playing the only character that lives to reach the end of the play, but she has also been responsible for recruiting "front of house" ushers.  In a pinch, most of our family members, including myself, have enjoyed free seats for staffing the front door of the Inscape Arts Building which houses the Slate Theater, Fern's home.  This older office building in the SODO district was once the Seattle Immigration and Naturalization Service Building.

I found it hard to follow all of the dialog, but the plot was made very clear, and this perhaps most quoted of Shakespeare's plays, was quite entertaining, despite being a tragedy.

Doesn't Jean look mature in this promotional photo?  Hamlet's love interest was Ophelia, so having a female play Hamlet's friend Horatio did not seem as odd as it might have otherwise.

 

Bits and Pieces 

♦   My quest to earn more Microsoft Office Specialist certifications continued in March.  I have used Word so much that the core exam
for Word 2016 (MOS 77-725) was relatively easy. My 925 score was reasonable considering the modest review time I spent.  I would have been happy with 800.  700 is passing.

♦  I enjoy shopping at Goodwill.  I found a big box of Lincoln Logs for $4.99, easily over $50 worth.  Jean said one of the grandchildren would love them.  But I said, all of the grandchildren will love to come play with them with grandpa.  Lincoln Logs were one of my very favorite toys growing up.  I especially remember playing with the set we kept at our cabin in Gold Bar.  That set is in the exercise room, and the new supply will be a great addition. 

♦  I took off the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 20th and accomplished very little. 
I broke the 10 gallon fish tank when I was cleaning it.  And while shopping for an upgrade, could not find one that satisfied.  In the end, I moved Peter, Paul, and Mary to their new temporary home outside the family room on the north patio in the old acrylic hexagonal tank that I first had in my dorm room back in 1976.

♦  Until this year, I'd never had an MRI or an ultrasound. On January 25th, I had an MRI of my brain, requested by my Eye Doctor, Ted Zollman.  All that was found was that I had a 63 year old brain.  The last day of this month, I got an ultrasound at Evergreen Radia in Kirkland, looking at my Thyroid, as requested by my Endocrinologist, Dr. Eskandari.  She'll let me know next month if anything of concern was revealed.

♦  I'm still struggling to get my blood sugar under control.  Dr. Eskandari has added Farxiga as a third oral medicine in additioon to the insulin. But I woke up on the 30th and felt a bit odd. My arms seemed weak.  Sure enough, my blood sugar was down at 89, a good number but one I had not reached in the past month.

♦  This last week of the month has been a rare sick week.  I caught the sore throat that has plagued Nancy for a few weeks. 
I managed to make all my classes, M,W,F 8:00AM to 9:20AM and Thursdays 5:30-8:30PM.  But my voice on Wednesday was awful and I spent most of Tuesday, and Wednesday after class, home in bed. 

♦  I'm delighted with some end-of-month surprise employment announcements.  Both Economics candidates we interviewed last month have accepted our offers. 
Dr. Richard Dadzie will take the tenure track position, and soon-to-be Dr., Hao Nguyen, will join us as our third Instructor.  In addition, our Librarian who serves the
business program, will be leaving SPU in April.  She had caused no little trouble by shunning those with whom she did not care to associate.

 My Quote from March

 

The most viral quotation from the late preacher—at one point shared every 15 seconds on Twitter— addresses Graham’s own view of his death:

Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.

It’s a stirring remark that captures the heart of the evangelist’s life and message—his focus on the gospel and his confidence in eternity. No wonder denominational leaders, commentators, Christian musicians, evangelists, reality TV stars, pastors, and thousands of others posted this popular quote attributed to Graham after his death.

The saying makes for a particularly apt tribute given that Graham, the most prominent preacher and evangelist of the 20th century, actually adapted it from the most prominent preacher and evangelist of the 19th century, Dwight L. Moody.

The original version appears in the first line of Moody’s autobiography, released in 1900. It reads:

Some day you will read in the papers that D. L. Moody, of East Northfield, is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone up higher, that is all; out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal—a body that death cannot touch; that sin cannot taint; a body fashioned like unto His glorious body.

Some reading these familiar words might cry foul and accuse Graham of plagiarism, making the recent social media tributes seem tainted with dishonesty. Such a characterization would be unfair. As biographer William Martin observes, Moody was one of Graham’s heroes; it makes sense that Graham would pattern himself after that great Chicago revivalist.

Graham never claimed credit for the words, though he identified with the message they express. He was in lockstep with Moody’s understanding of life and death and the hope of heaven so much so that he had very little to add.

From Christianity Today, February 21, 2018
 

 

 
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