Send!

come to send, not condescend

transcendental consequence

is to transcend where we are

who are we? who we are

Favorite Comment #4

My latest "Favorite Comment" came after I gave a final today. The student said to me, "I did not know how to do any of the graphs....you'll probably have to take off some points for that." Good stuff!

Saint Johns River

Over Thanksgiving weekend, we saw the St. Johns River. It was pretty. In the first picture, two models and their cute puppy agreed to pose. Thanks Avery, Lucy Lou, and Lillie.

Feels Like Chicken

My wife is the coolest. She got to hold an alligator at the Grand Bay Wildlife Management Area.

Thanksgiving

We hosted Thanksgiving for the first time this week. It was awesome to have such great people to make memories with. Thanks everyone for coming to see us!

DC

I went to Washington DC over the weekend for a conference. Between sessions, I found a little time to see some of the sights. The museums were wonderful. As it turns out, it was the grand re-opening of the American History Museum after a two year renovation. I was able to see the original Gettysburg address and a top hat worn by Lincoln himself. Pretty neat!

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The best sight, however, is captured in the bottom image. Let me explain. I first went to Washington DC when I was a youngster in second grade. Momma Jean had work there and so the boys flew out for a visit. One night we were out walking around and we got the feeling that someone was following us. We are not the type to spook easily, but after being followed by a shady character for quite some time, we decided to take action at the Jefferson Memorial. We casually walked into the rotunda, paid our respects to Mr. Jefferson, and when the time was right, we slide out the back. Our escape was nearly complete except for an 8 foot wall that circled the backside of the memorial. Instead of jumping, we looked for an alternative way down. When we saw a utility pipe running from the top of the wall to the bottom, we knew we had an escape. Pops went down first and Jeff stayed up top to help me. Soon all of us were down and off to safety. My visit to the Jefferson Memorial this last weekend was not as intense, but I was curious if our escape route still existed. It did! It was still there offering an escape to any families in distress. I did not slide down the pipe this time, but I did snap some picture so that the memory might live on a few days longer.

Quotables

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live the best life that I have.
Abraham Lincoln

Halloween

Be sure to note the mechanical spider at the top of the photo

Our neighbor is really into Halloween. Each year he turns his garage into something a little more...haunted. He really goes all out and people come from all over just to get a view. It was a lot of fun for Kristen and I to sit out on the front porch watching the little kids cautiously approach the entrance and then shoot out of the garage at high speed once the candy was in hand (kids will do anything for candy ehy?). Oh the screams we heard coming from the garage! Even some adults got a little freaked out. If you look in the picture above, you will see a toy spider hanging from the top of the garage. The spider is sound activated and falls down from the ceiling on its 'web' when someone makes a noise. One lady walked in, activated the spider, and had a complete panic attack when it landed on her head. She was so freaked out that she hit the deck, arms and legs flailing in the straw! Isn't Halloween great? I took advantage of the evening to scare a few people myself. I used some tall field grass to hide myself in an empty lot near our house. I got some good jumps out of people when I bolted up right and yelled "Happy Halloween!" in my scariest voice. I got a couple of families that way and I even managed to get an entire hay ride that was being towed around the neighborhood by a four-wheeler. We had a lot of fun!

Quotables

"Anxiety is the sort of opposite of ego. You're so sure you'll do everything wrong you're afraid to do anything at all. Often this, rather than laziness, is the real reason you find it hard to get started. This gumption trap of anxiety, which results from overmotivation, can lead to all kinds of errors of excessive fussiness. You fix things that don't need fixing, and chase after imaginary ailments. You jump to wild conclusions and build all kinds of errors into the machine because of your own nervousness. These errors, when made, tend to confirm your original underestimation of yourself. This leads to more errors, which lead to more underestimation, in a self-stoking cycle. "
Robert Persig

Favorite Songs

Below is a list of my top five favorite songs (click to listen). What are your favorites?

1. Claire de Lune
1. Impossible Dream
3. Girl with the Flaxen Hair
4. Reach
5. Eldery Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town

Favorite Comment #3

I hope you all are enjoying the student comments I get. Students surprise me and make me smile almost 'erday. Today is test day and I got a call about the exam from a student this morning. They said, "I stayed up too late last night at the football game and have not studied enough for the exam. Could I please take it on Monday?" Awesome!

Today's Favorite Comment

Today during an exam someone made a comment that I quite liked. Concerning an essay question, the student asked, "I don't know the exact answer here, should I write what I know?"
HA!

If our lives were a picture....

Banks Lake

A Sunday drive took us to Banks Lake. I don't know how long it will take for me to get used to trees growing right out of the water like this, but it is going to be at least a few more days. The scene still amazes me (see below).

On the way home we stopped by a neighbor's house. They recently bought a trampoline. I call them about once a week to see if I can "jump." One of my favorite things to do is what I like to call 'Superman.' I take the hands of a kid and then bounce them as high as I can. They really seem to like it. Every once in a while I will even try to do a trick myself. The trick below is called, "Try to Look Like a Dead Fish in the Air." That is what the image says to me anyway. I was really trying a gainer.

Adventure

When I am feeling super adventurous, I put on my Climb Every Mountain t-shirt and then...then I go to the office!

Okefenokee Swamp Adventure

On Friday, I visited the Okefenokee Swamp with a bunch of other biology teachers. We all woke up early and met for the two hour van ride to the swamp. The weather forcast for the day was all rain but that didn't stop us. When we arrived at the swamp we all piled on a boat for a 2.5 hour tour of the swamp. We traveled down a long corridor called the Suwanee Canal that was dug across the swamp in an effort to drain it in the 19th century. The plan didn't work because the swamp is still there. Our guide said the dredging equipment used to dig the canal was left in the swamp. When the water is low you can see part of the wooden boards from the dredging machine.

Suwanee Canal

We only saw one alligator and I didn't get a good shot of him. Our adventure guide said alligators don't like rain and wind. There was plenty of rain and wind to keep the alligators hidden away. I asked him what do you do if an alligator is attacking you. He said it won't. This man grew up around and in the swamp so I think we can trust his answer. Right Mom?

Swamp Praire - one of the many different successional stages of the swamp that we saw on our boat trip.

Swamp Praire

No, I do not have a large pile of poop in my hand. It is called peat. Now, you might think that the bottom of the swamp is all mud but it is actually peat. Peat is decayed or partially decayed plant matter. It holds a lot of water. I squeezed this big clump of peat in my hand and tons of water came out. Peat is cool stuff.

Poop? Not poop... It's peat!

After the boat ride, we took a little hike along the boardwalk to the lookout tower. As we were approaching the boardwalk we saw this rattle snake along the trail. It was a young canebreak rattle snake - not full grown. Don't worry Mom... It was more afraid of us and slithered off as I got close to take a good picture.

Canebreak Rattle Snake

I love lichen! Reindeer lichen seemed to be so rare in Kentucky or perhaps I couldn't spot it there. It is difficult to miss here in Georgia because it is everywhere.

Reindeer Lichen

I had only seen this in pictures until today! Blood Lichen! It can be so dense and bright that it looks like patches of the tree are actually bleeding. Creepy!

Blood Lichen

Another shot of Blood Lichen

The Tower at the end of the Boardwalk

Spooky Swamp

View from the tower

I think Spanish Moss can be so beautiful (like in the photo below). Spanish Moss is everywhere in Georgia. Many people think that Spanish Moss is parasitic but actually it is an epiphyte which means its a plant that lives on another plant. Epiphytes rarely kill the trees they grow on but they do lower their growth rate because less light gets to the tree.

Spanish Moss

We all tried to figure out what type of bird this was but it just kept moving around too much.

View from the tower

While we were standing on the tower, we saw a random pea pod hanging from this huge tree. Then the pea pod started to move and we realized it had a head too. It turned out to be a rough green snake and not a pea pod after all. This snake hand climbed a tree and was about 50 feet high off the ground. Rough green snakes are arboreal which means they spend lots of time in trees so this wasn't unusual behavior.

Random pea pod in tree?

Moving pea pod with head?

Rough Green Snake in Tree

More photos taken while hiking the boardwalk.

Can you spot the frog?

Pretty Flower

More Lichen

Nature's Fireworks

Best Comment

Today in class I gave an in-term evaluation of the teaching in the course. Looking over the students' responses, I found one that I particularly liked. To the question, "Does the instructor have any habits/mannerisms that are distracting to your learning"? the student replied, "No, other than his metro hair do."

LOL!!!

Fun in the kitchen with an eggplant

I went into work on Monday and found two grocery bags full of eggplants with a sign that read "please take one." I did. I was excited because I had a new recipe I wanted to try. I turned this garden fresh eggplant into...

THIS!! Eggplant parmesan! Thanks to Pam for the recipe!

Who's this guy?

I went outside on Sunday afternoon and found Brandon sitting in the rocking chair in the front yard with the computer on his lap writing (typing) in his journal. A neighbor stopped by and told him he looked odd in his get-up. I thought he looked pretty funny all decked out in his man slippers, beanie, and cold weather pull-over.

Providing some comedy for the neighborhood

Brandon's Fancy Feet

Best Day Ever!

Perfect day for some Front Porch Sittin'

Kristen loves her bike!

Today has been the best weather day ever since I have been in Georgia. In fact, the awesomeness started last night. The temperatures dipped down near chilly and we celebrated by having an evening fire. It was great!

Bald Point

Last weekend we made it to Bald Point Beach in the panhandle of Florida. The best part of the beach experience was when the tide went down revealing a sandbar stretching out into the Gulf. We were able to walk out about 50 yards into the water and see some pretty neat crabs scurrying to find deeper water. It was also fun to think that while we were enjoying the beach and 85 degree temps, Northern Utah was receiving one of the first snow storms of the year. I think I am going to enjoy a mild winter!

From Wallace

Below is a thought I have enjoyed lately. It is from the 2005 commencement speech at Kenyon College given by the recently deceased David Wallace.

There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says "Morning, boys. How's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes "What the hell is water?"

...

The capital-T Truth is about life BEFORE death.

It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over: “This is water." "This is water."

BICYCLE!

Kristen finally had her wish fulfilled. That is right, she now has a bicycle!

Grand Bay #3

Oh yea! We conquered that flat, wooden boardwalk! You better believe it. After about .5 miles and roughly 20 minutes on the trail we made it to our destination. We knew we could do it. At the end of the boardwalk you arrive to a structure that represents the greatest elevation gain in all of Southern Georgia, the Grand Bay observation tower. The only place you are going to get higher than this in this neck of the woods is when you are in an air plane.
All joking aside, the wetlands are pretty amazing. Towards the last half of the boardwalk, the surroundings look otherworldly.


One of the things that I could not get over was how black the water is. It is wild!


During our trips to Grand Bay, I have really wanted to see some wildlife. Besides the GIANT spiders, I was hoping to see, umm, an alligator perhaps? Fortunately when we were on top of the observations tower, we heard something thrashing in the water. It was an alligator! They sit so still that if you do not hear the thrashing, they are very hard to see. I was very impressed with the creature. I have now seen an alligator in the wild! Our best guess of the length was longer than 6 feet. Below is a picture of the beast.


Finally, while we were at the center, we saw a Pitcher Plant, a type of carnivorous plant. Most people think of the venus fly trap when they think of insect eating vegetation, but pitcher plants also do their fair share of insect snarfing.

Exam Review

I have to share my favorite comment so far this semester. During an EXAM REVIEW, a student raised their hand and said, "So are we going to need to do any of this stuff on the exam?" ....ya think???