Nathanael Finds His Pace Now in his sophomore year running for the SPU Falcons, Nathanael has become a consistent scorer for the team.  Last year he usually finished in 7th place on the team (moving up to 6th at the GNAC Championships).  But in 2009, he finished 4th for SPU at Apple Ridge in Yakima and 3rd at the big UW Sundodger at Lincoln Park where his ferocious kick (left) earned him "picture of the week" honors. In his fourth race of the season he lead a group of four freshmen at the Pete Steilberg Cross Country Classic at The Evergreen State College in Olympia.  He finished in 13th place overall but was still featured on the SPU Athletics web site since he finished 1st for SPU.  The SPU "SID" (Sports Information Director) chose my shot (below right) for the story. He got a haircut just before the Evergreen race.  Now it's long and even instead of long and uneven. I have to remind myself that he's as old as a junior.  This is his seventh XC season dating back to his homeschool days. In the friendly duel with freshman team mate Andrew Van Ness, Andrew finished just ahead of Nate at the 6K Apple Ridge Preview, but Nate ran the 8K Sundodger in 26:36 (58th place overall) while Andrew ran 27:22 and finished in 100th place out of the 211 runners in this big race.
Jeannie Beth Shows Improvement Jeannie Beth is running 7th on the BCS Varsity.  They are not as strong as their 2008 team, but in their Kelsey Creek Park race (2nd of the season) they closed the gap with a strong Northwest School team -- and this with Noelle (our #2 runner) injured.  They still have hope of earning one of the few top spots at the Tri-District race on October 31st which will take them to Pasco. JB has some work to do on her start and mid-race pace, but her final 800m is all "Sleight."  She takes the hills well (left) and her kick (right) has her zooming by her competition in the final stretch.  She's got more in her than she lets out. The season seems short.  Marysville on October 3 and 15, Lower Woodland Park on the 6th and the Emerald City League Championships back at the BCS home course of Kelsey Creek on the 23rd lead up to the key Tri-District race on Halloween.
Nancy's Fence Takes Shape The 92.5' cedar fence written about last month is nearly done.  Well, at least she let me bang on some of the boards and dig some post holes.  But this is Nancy's fence.  Like nearly every project, she takes charge of the design details and most of the work.  Nancy does not trust others to get it done right.  This also explains why so many other projects lag.  But it's straight and beautiful and sturdy.  She likes to play and her tools are her toys. She put a "secret door" in the fence on the south side of the big Hemlock stump so that we could retrieve things that might sail over the fence.  As I'm typing this on Sunday night the 27th, she's up banging on the roof ridge (again), and doing this well past the 7:00 p.m. construction sound curfew.
Annie's Friends Come to Visit Kristen (left) came to stay with us for much of September and Sandra (right) stayed with us for much of August and a bit in September.  We drove Sandra's car while she was home in California. My quip that SPU should advertise itself as the "top school for finding bridesmaids" was not lost on these three.  Along those lines, Tom stayed a few nights on a cot in our living room and Annie and Kristen drove to Dallas, Oregon to bring Tom and his stuff back to SPU for their final year there.
New Portraits at SPU I struggle to get half the business school faculty to come and sit for a new portrait.  These of me are a bit washed out.  But I've decided my 50mm f/1.8 D is the perfect portrait lens.  By sticking with a prime lens (non-zoom), I get uniform proportions.  A 50mm lens on my "DX" D300 body actually is equivalent to 75mm on a 35mm film camera.   This month I also went on a modest shopping spree on eBay.   ► $270 - A Nikon D70 body to serve as a backup to my D300. (My original D70, for which I paid three times as much, is functional except for its temperamental shutter release, and I leave it at SPU.) ► $103 - A Nikon AF Nikkor 70-210mm f/4-5.6 lens.  It's a very old heavy "push-pull" AF (auto focus) model with a zoom range similar to my $900 80-200mm f/2.8 and is very well built.  I shot the junior high girls at Kelsey Creek and got fine results because, even at its age, it's got "good glass" and works like new. ► $38 - Nikon AF Nikkor 35-80mm f/4-5.6 D lens.  The key word here is cheap.  I wanted this lens for my dysfunctional original D70.  I used it for the shot of Sandra above.   I'll rate it a "toy grade" lens, but that price for a Nikon "D" lens is still a good deal. ► A lens hood ($10) for the good 70-210mm and lens caps ($6) completed my eBay shopping.

Bits and Pieces

   I got the "regular" flu shot on the 24th.  On the 29th I've got a slight sore throat but no fever.  Hope a big dose of vitamin C will nip whatever it is in the bud. I haven't been sick much in recent years, unlike what I recall when I was teaching at the UW.  But I'm weeks behind on sleep and I understand that can weaken the immune system.

  October 5-6 is the big AACSB accreditation site visit.  Will we fly through this like we did in 2000?

  I produced a great 20"x30" poster of the 2009 BCS Invite Track & Field meet sponsored by FootZone and Puma.  Copies were given to those sponsors who also sponsored the BCS Turtle Soup Relay XC race.  BCS bought five copies and others were given to parents. See it here.  The small version does not do it justice.