Recently

Man, we sure have been busy lately. It's horse show season, and as I write this, Sofia is competing for the second time in two days. Yesterday didn't go so well, but we explained to her that as she is the only 8 year old competing in the 14 and under category--she still has many years to get better. Some day the kids will say, "oh no, here comes Sofia, she always wins."

Even so, we try to find time to relax (the kids learned the word "connotation" this morning. Example: "relax" = good connotation, "lazy" = bad connotation. We were actually being lazy this morning, but we called it relaxing instead.) By relax, I mean, of course, that I had finished my 10 mile run this morning while Sofia and Stefanie got ready for the second full day out at the horse show. Oh, well. Maybe we'll relax next weekend. Probably not, though.

Anyway, lots on our plates these days, and I'm really behind in my reading too. I've got Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans: A Brief History, and Measuring Heaven: Pythagoras and His Influence on Thought and Art in Antiquity and Middle Ages, and The Music of Pythagoras, and The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library (were you able to detect a trend?) to read before the end of the month. And that's not counting all three of the books on Shelby Foote, the three books on Greece and the Peloponnesian War, and the two books on historiography that I have in my book basket. I'm already mostly done with the last five on the list, but I've got them all going at the same time. The TV has only been on once in the last three weeks that I can remember, not a bad thing, I think. And that was just last night to watch the Belmont Stakes--we were rooting for Big Brown, but happy to see at least that the jockey didn't run him into the ground.

And then there's work. Here are some press articles from my latest project (a 24 hours visit takes a month and a half of prep work): Tunisia takes its turn in Ward’s PR push and Ceremony recalls WWII fallen in Tunisia. Every logistical aspect of the visit, the band, the airplanes (two of 'em), the vehicles to move all the people around, hotel arrangements, lunches, receptions--the whole nine--all belong to me. This isn't the only thing I do, but it's a big part of it.

Anyway, I guess I should stop procrastinating and write the Wall Street Journal article summary that is also staring at me in my To-Do List (I'm done with that program in September, by the way).

Haven't updated total mileage in a long time, I've had some problems with my iPod, Nike+, I've lost about 15 miles, but I'll count them anyway. Total = 285 miles.

A good, busy day

Day started, for me, at 6 AM when the alarm went off...snooze for twenty minutes, and then:

I was able to make it through the first 9.5 miles before taking a break. I'm a sweaty guy, so I used that opportunity to switch t-shirts--dehydration is my biggest challenge on these long runs. (Total mileage = 213.2)

Got back home, cleaned up and made homemade pancakes. And then on to music... "band" is what we call it. It's actually a bunch of kids that take guitar lessons--they get together on Sunday mornings and play "Ode to Joy" over and over again. They've also added the theme to the Godfather to their repertoire.

Then, grocery shopping, wash the car, over to the local green grocer, bread from the bakery--and then help Stefanie (who stayed home and did yard work) finish cleaning up yard clippings.

And now, writing this, TV in one ear, kids in the other. A bit of schoolwork, dinner, and then read my book ("Champion Hill: Decisive Battle for Vicksburg" --I'm taking a class on historiography and I'm reviewing this book for the class).

Not an exciting day, but a normal day. Hope you had a nice day today too.

Homework

I'm taking a course in computer graphics. My project that I had to do was use Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) to build a table and put three objects on top of it. 1) A shape that can move anywhere on the table top, 2) An object, when clicked, moves around the table top in a predefined path, and finally 3) An object, when clicked, rotates. Pretty exciting, eh?

Anyway, here's the link to my website where I uploaded the stuff: my Nova SCIS website.

Also, it will only work if your browser has a VRML plug-in, but here's a screenshot of what it looks like using Safari: Yay for me.

Mileage = 129.88. I've had to take a few days off to make sure I don't injure myself. I felt a twinge in my right knee...it wasn't hurting hurting (whatever that means) and with an ibuprofen the pain would go away (which means something in there was inflamed) which meant I really needed to take a break for a few days. We'll see how it feels in the morning--keep you posted.

This is third grade, so those must be times tables

Stefanie and I were trying to figure out how to help Sofia learn her times tables. We both had little tricks we were trying to teach her--Stefanie had a good one for 6's and my favorite is the trick with the 9's. Until I remembered how I learned times tables...standing up in front of Mrs. Maclaughlin's third grade class (1983!) and repeating over and over: 6 times 1 is 6. 6 times 2 is 12. 6 times 3 is 18. 6 times 4 is 24. 6 times 5 is 30. 6 times 6 is 36. Again and again and again. And then do it again. And then again. As an added benefit--Dylan is learning them too, seemingly by osmosis.