The Journal of Dr. Richard L. Sleight
 September 2017
 
 
          
 

Trivial Pursuits

September means the start of the Cross Country season, the regular NFL season, and classes at SPU. 

I am not much of  a beer drinker.  One can each week with a Seahawk game is my normal limit.  Sunday (football) lunch is typically pizza.

Since I rarely make it to the range, but the urge to test each new firearm weighs on me, my 'private range' very occasionally gets a visit.

With six layers of 2" lumber, and a single 9mm hollow point round, I tested my new SCCY CPX-2. It penetrated into the third board, and fed the next round as it should.

It's easy to get a first shot bull's-eye on an index card at basement distances.
 

 

The Tempest at the Slate Theatre

 From the 1st to the 17th, Jean played the drunk butler Stephano in Shakespeare's The Tempest.

It was hard for me to catch all of the complex dialog, but by the end of the play, I understood the plot.

After Christmas, she'll fly off to Massachusetts for
a month-long  Shakespeare course. 

Her last day of employment at Bellevue Presbyterian will be November 15th.
 

Frickel's Move from 1234 99th Ave. NE

Verlin and Pat Frickel sold their home, just to our west, in mid-July.  The sale price was $1,150,000, while Zillow had estimated its value at over $1,600,000.  They have been our neighbors since we moved to Bellevue.

Built in 1954, this 1,980 sq. ft. rambler is on a small lot.  It will surely be torn down and rebuilt like so many homes in west Bellevue.

We will not miss Verlin's excessive speed driving in and out of the cul-de-sac.  They used a 20'x20' easement across the northwest corner of our lot.  His driving is one reason we built our north fence.

It is interesting how in Google's Street View of our house (←click), even though ours is more than three times the size of our neighbor's, only our garage can be seen from the street.

 

The True End

of an Era

Bellevue Christian does not have a girl's Cross Country team this year, and their boy's team is not at all competitive.  Senior Jared Donnel is an outstanding runner, but it's a team sport.

I photographed the first two meets of the season, but ended my fourteen year hobby at that.

Reasons abound for this life change. 

a.) I have much work to do at home which has been long overlooked.  b.) I have new duties at work.  c.) I was offered a Nikon D750 camera for a good price by friend and management professor Dr. John Godek, but decided to pass on the offer. d.) Thoughts of a  granddaughter changes one's perspective. e.) Bible teaching remains my calling and sports photography limits time for that. f.) Significant leg and especially knee pain has been slowing me down recently.

I wrote to Mark DeJonge and the coaches. They all thanked me, understood my decision, and of course, invited me back any time.

Bits and Pieces 

♦   Elizabeth Jorgenson's last day was be September 1st.  Then the top two candidates for that position turned us down.  As autumn quarter begins, our search has been restarted, and I am the school's interim point person serving undergraduates.

♦   At the start of autumn quarter, Nathanael gave us the news that his studies at SPU have ended.  While he enjoyed his actual student teaching last year, his coursework did not come up to their standards.  He is now free to seek employment more broadly than as a school teacher.

♦  Mid-month, I went to cash.  That is, I sold two mutual funds at Charles Schwab.  My account there (over $40,000) was up 55% since 2015, but I've had a bad feeling about the market in October.  This is apart from funds I have at Oppenheimer and nearly $500,000 with TIAA, the last very conservatively invested.  Maybe I'm no financial prophet — but we'll soon see.

♦  My month-long experiment with weekly injections of Bydureon did not have the desired impact on my Diabetes so that ended after five Monday night shots with big needles.  That has been replaced by nightly injections of Insulin with smaller needles.  It's a challenge to look down at my chubby middle and insert a thin needle.  Appointments with Dr. Escandari are monthly for now. 

♦  I got my annual flu shot on the 26th at SPU.  I can't remember the last time I had the flu.  The one day I took a "sick day" earlier this year was due to exhaustion.

♦  My first class of BUS 1700 this quarter made me feel like I'd made the right decision to back away from sports photography and to more fully embrace my day job — even if I'm teaching on Monday and Wednesday nights.  Not only did the two hour lecture go especially well, but one student, freshman Elliot Flett, told me his mother had been in my MBA class when I filled in for an ailing professor.  That would have been BUS 6171 in Spring 2004.  He said she remembered me as a great teacher.  Maybe so.  I see I gave her an A-. 

♦  Is it any wonder my wine of choice is Pinot Noir!  (My latest concoction is 2 oz. Pinot Noir and 4 oz. sugar free punch.)  NOIR!  In Statistics, those letters stand for Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, and Ratio — the four number types Statisticians work with.  The fact is, I drink alcohol very infrequently.

♦  I'm publishing this on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement.  It is a day when Psalm 27 is read.  When a hundred acquaintances speak well of you, but one attacks without cause, it feels like the majority has turned on you. (That happened this week.) But when I read Psalm 27, I hear God say, "Just wait . . . I got this."

          11 Teach me Your way, O LORD, and lead me in a level path because of my foes.
          12 Do not deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and such as breathe out violence.
          13 I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
          14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the LORD.
                                                                                                                                                Psalm 27:11-14 NASU

♦  At this point, I'm making a poorly educated guess.  But one word describes my sore leg muscles, right shoulder, left hand, sleep issues, and fatigue.  You read it here first (and I hope I'm totally wrong) — Parkinson's.

♦  On September 30th, the Saturday Morning Men's Bible Study covered Acts 24.

 
My Quote from September

“A very small percentage of those in the church stand behind a pulpit or sport certain kinds of identifiable clothing. The actual leadership roster of the church includes disciples ministering in every arena of life, in business, law, medicine, education, the arts, sciences, government, and religion. The objective of Jesus’s church-growth strategy was not to build a single, behemoth social institution with a limited set of ordained authorities. Instead, his Spirit was to be poured out on all flesh to effect a widening, deepening base of influence within every nation, worldview, and social institution.”

                        ― Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy Continued: Fulfilling God's Kingdom on Earth

 

   
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