Week's worth

Last weekend Phil & Matthew came down for a visit, Jamie & I went geocaching with Doug, and
Michaela had a gymnastics meet in Manitowoc.

During the week, Jamie had an orchestra/chorus recital.

(Jamie second from left)




Then yesterday, Michaela went with her team to the state meet in Appleton and got to meet world champion gymnast Chellsie Memmel.

(Madison, Michaela, Chellsie, Allison, Olivia)

The Gadabout Crowd

Let's see if I produce buzz.

I've been trying to learn songs on my guitar, getting info from the internet. I happened upon this fellow's rendition of Say It to Me Now. He plays it like he feels it.

So I followed travestees info to find The Gadabout Crowd. I like it.

Tough guy

Got a new battery yesterday. Rode my motorcycle today - over to Hogan's for a corned-beef dinner, and a chance to play guitar with the maestro.

Adventures in hardwood flooring

I went down to help Matt put hardwood flooring in a room he's remodeling in his home in Lockport, IL. It was a great weekend.

I've never driven in Chicagoland, and I studied my maps hard. The traffic was fine, there were a lot of people out and about, but the roads could handle it.

It was incredible to me, this mass of humanity. About ten minutes into Illinois, then all the way to Matt's house, it was developed. Town stretched for 70 miles, and that was just my linear view. My mind is used to the stark difference between urban and rural , and the compartmentalization of towns in Wisconsin. There's woods and farms around towns. There's an artificial glow that signals human presence in the distance when I drive down our rural highways at night. In Illinois, the constant urbanity was only punctuated by occasional spectacular growths of what I consider skyscrapers (I was nowhere near The Loop, but twenty or thirty stories is a big production to me.) This sprawling organism is alive and growing.

So that experience made quite an impression on me. I guess I had never imagined the enormity of this place. Anyone who doesn't think field-trips are worthy educational exercises can stick it.

We worked, my sore legs are proof. We played: geocaching, guitar hero. And we ate and drank well. Nori made us an authentic Mexican lunch on Saturday, and we had Irish lager and margaritas with our movie on Saturday night.

On the way home, I stopped for a quick surprise visit at the Scobeys.

TED

Phil heard about TED on NPR last night.
I checked it out tonight (David Deutsch), it's pretty cool.

Number 1

Looking forward to this movie:

Public Enemies

Intense actors, epic director, magnificent locations.

Otis Taylor - Ten Million Slaves

movin' thru the grey

Jamie & I went to see Michaela and her friend Laken perform in the Solo & Ensemble competition at West DePere High School. They did a good job. And afterwards, the judge praised them specifically on their strengths and politely helped them understand where they could improve.

Michaela went over to a friend's house, then she and her friend Carlee joined Jamie and I for some geocaching. We grilled out, and Carlee's staying over.

only a geocaching father could understand the pride I get from this moment :)

Step by step

14 years, 8 months, and 22 days.

dead of its own too-much

I write notes for myself. When I read something that references another idea that I think I'd like to know more about, I put it down on a sticky note, or a scrap of paper.



It is good to learn of kindred souls. It is good to know of another's thoughts that seem to pull out the essence of your being as if the other was a part of your being.



I don't dare consider myself worthy to stand upon the pantheon with Aldo Leopold; but when I read his words, I realize the feelings within my mind that I have not to this point been able to express. There are things of this world that are just beyond the realm of my understanding; as if I'm just out of reach of pulling myself up to that higher perch where I can see over that next hill.



When I find a writer, a teacher, who ties together for me the ideas around me, I feel a joy. And this feeling I cannot adequately express. It is an exhiliration and a relief: to work so hard to understand a myriad of ideas that I somehow intuit are related, and then like a game-winning drive in the final seconds, it is true; the final thread is sewn between the ideas, and they are one. A new understanding, that will become a foundation for the future me, as I set out on my ascent of the next mountain.