Out with a bang,
and in with a buzz,
there is just two more days,
what a decade it was.

Here are some the events from this weekend:

22nd Annual Sculpture Celebration – FREE
1st Annual Folk Art Fair – FREE
Piccolo’s Special 12” pizza – $11.99
Dinner at the new Wine Cellar & Bistro – $54.10
Live Music at the Square – FREE
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Living just two blocks from all of this – One reason why I love where I live

I never thought that living downtown would would have so many advantages. I grew up in a small rural town, Berne, IN and where I also lived just two blocks from downtown. The only plusses I saw were being able to go buy baseball cards, get my fix of a Coke Float, and visit the public library. The only entertainment came once a year, Swiss Days, which became less and less magnificent the older I got. Then in college at Indiana University, I also lived two blocks away from downtown and campus. Even though this was spectacular, I thought this would by last shot of city life. Having a house in the woods, far out in the country sounded more spectacular. But then came along this town house. April and I thought it would be an OK place, while I go to grad school. The only reason we actually looked at houses in Lenoir was because of the location; it is half way between ASU and where she works. Two years later I am finished with grad school and could not be more happy with where we live. Downtown Lenoir used to be ghost town four years ago, so I am told. But ever since I have lived here businesses have been started and events I have been added. This summer we could go to Friday Live (music at the square every friday), Weekly Family Movie night, (movie projected on to a large screen), Bi-Weekend Cruise-In (over a hundred old cars fill up the down town streets) and a few festivals. This basically means that any time we do not leave town, we could go downtown. One of our favorites is going to one of the local restaurants. The new one is called Wine Cellar Bistro, which is also a coffee shop and a book store. Our first dinner there included crab crakes, fish tacos, grilled vegetable panni with a cup of tomato bisque, and a bottle of Bear Boat pinot noir. Nothing like having a fantastic meal, a bottle of fine wine, and strolling Charlie back home. Even if we were to move, I bet that we would find ourselves driving downtown most time. So for now we will just walk there.

As the autumn equinox gets closer, the sun rises a bit later each day. This have been exciting for me because the sun rise has finally begun to match up with the time I am going to work. In the summer, my first class to teach was not until 10 so I would not leave the house till about 9. During my two year grad school adventure, I traveled north west to ASU and the mountains usually blocked the rising sun. But now I travel south and the east is flatter, offering a clear view of the celestial fire ball. I have not been able to have this type of morning since my last commute to teach, which was about 4 years. Even when I was hiking the Appalachian Trail, I only saw a few sun rises. Most of the time trees the trees blocked the view. Yet, seeing the first sun light through the forest canopy was always a special treat. Speaking of the AT, it has now been three years since I completed the trail: September 5, 2004. Over thousand sun rises later, I am finally back to watching the sun say “Good Morning, Earthlings”. Amazing to ponder that there are over 1000 sun rises during a 3 year span. Just what percentage of sunrises I have seen in my life? Well, in two weeks I will be the big 3-0, and 30 years is 10957 sun rises. In order to have at least witness 10%, I would have had to seen around 1000, which is about 30 per year. That average sounds a bit too high. Therefore, I have not even seen 10% of the sunrises in my life, what a bummer. Perhaps, my new sun rise commute will boost up that percentage and the sun and I can begin to better morning friends.

One step towards the sunset, is one shy from the sunrise. ~Anonymous

As soon as the sun sets,
as soon as the earth lets the other side ride the light,
as soon as the sun sets,
my part of the earth, on its backside
saying you can call it a night. ~J-Live

I have almost completed teaching four weeks of the Fall 2007 semester, and for the last two and half weeks I have been parking in the exact same spot. So what? I imagine that most people going to work could the same thing. However, my parking routine has a small twist. I began thinking, most liking in a pointless day dream and Math Land fantasy, about how I could add more walking in my day. Then it dawned on me. If I parked farther away, then I would be walking farther. Simple idea with great potential. First, since no one else is wanting to park far away, I always get the same parking spot. Second, parking out in the boonies means that no one is around and that means no car doors slamming into my car. Third, I get more exercise, burn a few calories, and enjoy the weather thinking about the extra donut I can now eat. Forth, I save on gas. I am not driving my car closer, so that is gas I am saving. I casually mentioned this gas saving idea to my pre-calc students. (Note, there was no assignment about this.) The next day, a student showed me his calculations that I would only be saving about $6 if I were to continue this till December. I then thought about how a “Green Swing” could be applied to this idea. True, I would only be saving $6 but if the entire college did this then the total savings would be in thousands, and so would the gallons of gas. (Yes, I know this is terrible logic, but this is how many people think.) What a site that would be: every car parked 600 yards from their destination and students picking signs out front that read “Parking out front fuels the Iraq war”. Sounds like Saturday Night Live skit. So, next time you travel to the grocery store, Wal-Mart, library, or the mall find a parking spot in the back and skip on in. Not only is it good for you and the environment; people will wonder what in the hell you are doing!

The best part of having a three day weekend is that there is a four day work week following it. For some reason, the sound of four day week sounds better than a 3 day weekend. How about you? Would you rather have one more day added to your weekend or one less day in your week? I guess it is sort of like the question of half full or half empty. In this case, which part is the “full” and which part is the “empty”? Or should I be saying, “Who cares!” This reminds me when I asked my student to participate in a survey. (Click here to see it, and then look at the results.)

One student asked with a dying tone ,

“Do we have to do it?”

I quickly said,

“Yes.”

and the student responded

“But the survey is anonymous so how do you know if we did it?”

I could easily see how much on an inconvenience this was becoming for student’s life and mine, none the less, so I tried to end the conversation by saying,

“Well I guess I have to trust ya.”

Of course, I could not have the last word, so the student said in a lower volume,

“You shouldn’t trust anybody.”

Wow, the flood gates were now open, and I could take many different paths with that type of statement. Yet there was one minute left and people were already zipping up book bags. I redirected my attention to the whole class, swallowed my ego trip, and said,

“Ooookaaay, have a great long weekend everybody.”

Three days later, I am still thinking about what is my current stance on the student’s statement. Just what is trust? Can I trust some thing that I know that is not true? Is trust only about what I think is right? Do I build a trust with people because of what they have done? Is there a thin line between not trusting what some one might say and being skeptical with what one might say. Well, I trust that within this wonderful four day week I will know my stance better

September is officially here, which means 19 days till my b-day and 22 days to the house party! So much for the twenties bring on the thirties. Before that happens, I probably should reflect on some of the events that were created during the last decade.

21-st b-day party (and many other amazing birthday bashes)
Indiana University
Living on the Navajo reservation
Moving to North Carolina
First year teaching math by pushing an overhead cart around the school
Hiking the Appalachian Trail
Getting married twice with same person (city official and ourselves)
Honeymoon #1
Charlie is born
Disc golf addiction is birthed
Appalachian grad school
Community College teacher
Side jobs: Waiting tables, Milk man, short order cook, food court supervisor, Linda K’s Cafe
Two new cars (Sammy and T-One)
An exploration of personal belief systems
First house purchase
Countless memories with family and friends
Festivals: LEAF, Floyd, Merel
South America trip
Cooking a wide range of meals from vegan meals to grilling freshly butchered sheep over a fire
Traveling around the US: Washington, California, Nevada, Idaho, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, Delaware, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky.

A flood memories have just went through my head as I was typing those highlights. I guess now the time has come to start thinking about goals for the 30’s. Being an outer space would be spectacular!