Happy Birthday Randy Stonehill! A 71 song salute.

On this Day March 12th, 1951 fellow baby boomer and my favorite singer   Randy Stonehill was born in California. He turns 71 today and to celebrate I will link 71 of my favorite songs (and yes, I have that many)  of his here on this very happy birthday post.  Many of these songs can be found on Spotify.  All of these songs are available for purchase at Bandcamp. Note: Songs are listed from the album they originally appeared. The song is not always being played from that album.

1. Never Can Repay - Born Twice

 

 2. Faithful - Until We Have Wings 

   

 3. Get Me Out of Hollywood- Get me Out of Hollywood

4. Starlings - Return To Paradise 5. Christmas Song For All Year 'Round - Welcome To Paradise  

 6. I Love You - Born Twice  

 7. Norman's Kitchen - Born Twice

8. Bad Fruit -The Sky Is Falling

   

 9. Still Small Voice - Celebrate This Heartbeat  

 10. Christine - Between The Glory And The Flame

 

 11. Can Hell Burn Hot Enough - Until We Have Wings

   

 12. Light Of The World - Equator

   

13. First Prayer - Welcome To Paradise

14. Keep Me Runnin' - Welcome To Paradise

 

15. Stop The World - Celebrate This Heartbeat  

  16. Sunday's Child - Mystery Highway

17. Love Beyond Reason - Love Beyond Reason 18. Ramada Inn (Live) - Until We Have Wings 19. Everything But Love - Stonehill 20. Didn't It Rain - Until We Have Wings 21. One True Love - The Sky Is Falling 22. Until Your Love Broke Through- Love Beyond Reason 23. Celebrate This Heartbeat - Celebrate This Heartbeat 24. The Hope of Glory - The Wild Frontier 25. Modern Myth - Celebrate This Heartbeat 26. Can't Buy A Miracle - Can't Buy A Miracle 27. Leonard Has A Toaster - Lost Art Of Listening 28. Glory And The Flame - Between The Glory And The Flame  

 29. Stand Like Steel - Return To Paradise 30. Hand of God - Thirst

   

 31. Barbie Nation - Wonderama

32. Old Clothes - Until We Have Wings

33. Charlie The Weatherman - Stories 

34. Try Havin' Some Faith - Spirit Walk

35. Turning Thirty - Equator

36. Lazarus Heart - Lazarus Heart

37. This Old Face - Lost Art Of Listening

38. Baby Hates Clowns - Thirst

39. Strong Hand Of Love - Welcome To Paradise

40. Curious - Uncle Stonehill's Hat

41. Die Young - Between The Glory And The Flame

42. Who Will Save The Children - Celebrate This Heartbeat  

43. We Were All So Young - Edge Of The World

44. King Of Hearts

45. That's The Way It Goes (Live) - Edge Of The World

46. Shut De Do (Live) - Equator

 

47. Jesus - Breath Of God  

48. Big Ideas (In The Shrinking World) 49. The Gods Of Men - Love Beyond Reason

50. Broken Places - Spirit Walk 51. Hymn - Love Beyond Reason

52. Billy Frank - The Lost Art Of Listening

 

53. Venezuela - The Sky Is Falling 

54. What Do You Want From Life? - The Wild Frontier

55.Brighter Day - Can't Buy A Miracle 56. Get Together - The Wild Frontier

57. Ready To Go - Welcome To Paradise

58. Sing In Portugese - Wonderama

59.In Jesus Name - Lazarus Heart 60.Last Time I Saw Eden - Spirit Walk 61. Everything You Know (Is Incorrect) - Thirst

62.I've Got News For You (Paradise Sky Version) Welcome To Paradise -

63. Awfully Loud World - Can't Buy A Miracle 

64.When I Look To The Mountains - Celebrate This Heartbeat

65.Mercy In The Shadow Land - Lost Art Of Listening

66. Backwards On Her Bike - Mystery Highway 67.Cosmetic Fixation - Equator

68.A Promise Made Is A Promise Kept - Lazarus Heart

69. The Keeper Of The Bear - Thirst

 

70. I Don't Ever Want To Live Without You - Return To Paradise

71. Finish Well - Spirit Walk

Happy Birthday Randy! I encourage anyone who spends time listening to these songs to buy some or all of them on Bandy Camp and give Randy a gift for the wonderful music he's been giving to us for a half-century.

Yo Yo Man

First, the good news.  I have lost 20.2 lbs this year, 7 lbs this week alone.  The bad news in addition to losing 20.2 lbs this year, I have also gained 13.2 lbs.  In other words, the 7 lbs. I lost this week is the only weight I truly lost all year.  And since I tend to gain back all the weight I lose, we really can't be certain that those 7lbs we'll stay gone.

At the end of last year, I weighed myself as I do every Saturday and I weighed 259.6 lbs.  I estimated by losing 1 lb a week for 10 weeks I could be below 250 by Saturday, March 11th. Today is March 11th and I now weigh 252.6 pounds.  During those 10 weeks, I lost weight 6 different times and I gained weight 4 times. 

Perhaps a little historical perspective would be helpful here.  I weighed 174 lbs when I was a Freshman in high school. When I graduated high school I weighed 174 lbs.  During high school, I could eat all the time and never gain weight which is exactly what I did.  Between 18 and 33 the year I got married my weight went up gradually to somewhere between 200 and 220.  In the first 16 or so years of my marriage it continued to go up until about 8 years ago I weighed myself and saw that I was 285 lbs.  

In the past 8 years is when the yo-yo-ing began.  Yo-yo-ing is only marginally better than unchecked gradual increases.  Since June of  2021, I've gone from 262 pounds in June to 227.6 on Christmas Day 2021 but was back up to 263 by January of this year. That's a year 1/2 long yo-yo. 

I've been wanting to post about my weight loss/weight gain struggles here for a while.  I feel a little like Piglet in the opening of Winnie The Pooh and The Blustery day. He's raking leaves and generally gets blown around by the wind when he says I don't mind the leaves that are leaving, But I don't like the ones that are coming.  I don't mind losing 20 lbs in 2.5 months. I just hope the next time I say that I weigh 20.5 lbs less than I did 2.5 months before not just 7. 

Blog Tryouts Results Show

Blog Insider: An unsolicited and superfluous look inside the minutiae. 

I'm a big fan of blogroll (Don't know what blogroll click here to find out.) At present, I have 8 different blogrolls on my home page,  and we all know how painful that can be. The most recent one is called Blog Tryouts.  I just started it earlier this year.

Blog Tryouts is exactly what it sounds like. I chose 8 blogs that I was not currently linking anywhere else in my blog and placed them in their own section.  Some of these blogs like The Comics Curmudgeon and We Are That Family have been on my blogrolls before and I have decided to have another look at them.  Others like Chicken Spaghetti and Laws of Gravity are blogs I have recently discovered and placing them on a  blogroll for the first time. 

Since the beginning of the year, I have been enjoying going to these blogs on multiple occasions and have added 3 to some of my more permanent blogrolls.  

Laws of Gravity as I mentioned last month on my Januarying post is a blogger/substitute teacher and I have really enjoyed her tales from the front lines of education.  I have added her blog to my Education and Special Needs Blog blogroll.  Her most recent post is called Oblivious.

Rambling Ever on may well be my favorite of the blogs from blog tryouts. I feel like I have found kindred spirits in the group of writers who contribute to this blog.  They have a very good 5 part series called The Forgotten History of Christian Rock with 5 Spotify playlists to help you not forget.  I really enjoyed their recent post called I Love My Boring Church as our family has been on a church search for some time now and the post served as something of an oasis for me. I wasn't sure which blogroll to place Rambling Ever On, it could certainly go into my Bloggy Blogs category as they spray all to fields, but for now, anyway, I'm including them in the News, Faith, Opinion, and Insight Blogs section.

The Third Blog that earned a place on my blogroll team is Reflections On The Teche. I've seen this blog on several occasions through Poetry Friday.  This week's Poetry Friday is at  My Juicy Little Universe by the way.  Feel free to stop in. I really like the poetry at Reflections On The Teche. I've even signed up to take part in the kiddie-lit progressive poem she's spearheading in  April. One feature she does on her blog is This Photo Wants To Be a Poem. I particularly liked the submission called Sunrise Field. I have placed Reflections On The Teche in my Writing, Poetry, Publishing, and Book blogs section.  

I will keep all 8 blogs up in The Blog Tryouts section until the end of March.  In May I plan to link blogs that I discovered or rediscovered during April's A to Z challenge.  

Remembrances of a Lost Friend

 I graduated High School in 1983 at the age of 18.  In 1987 when many of my classmates were completing their undergraduate studies I moved to Macomb, Illinois, and began attending Western Illinois University.  I saw those years as a time to learn but also an opportunity to be involved in ministry.  I came onto campus and became part of the leadership team of the local ragtag chapter of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship.  

Like most campuses, ours had a new student fair each year.  I helped man the I-V table. I met many people that day and many signed up for more information.  One of those people was an 18-year-old freshman by the name of Frank Charles Rusan the fifth.  I don't remember if I met him at the table or later when I visited him in his dorm room.  Frank didn't introduce himself as Frank Charles Rusan V, I just remember his middle name because it is also my middle name. 

Frank started attending a Bible Study I was leading.  He and I became good friends during his time at WIU.  Before I met Frank I knew very few people who lived in Chicago even though I grew up in the Chicago suburbs.  Frank was the first black person I really got to know.  Frank and I both had a vision of breaking the color barriers of our campus's Christian ministries.  In his freshman and sophomore year, I visited the campus black church with him on many occasions.  The services were much longer and had so many different types of worship than I was used to.  I remember singing songs like Jesus is on The Mainline (Tell Him What You Want.).

I remember one day I was in Frank's room after a bible study and I don't remember exactly what he said but the gist was "Dave,  you love people, you treat them with respect.  You could be black.  He meant it and I took it as a compliment.  It reminds me now of something that happened a few years after that during my first year as a missionary in Russia.  I was in the home of my friend Vladimir.  His dad who was also named Vladimir was sitting with us at a table drinking tea with family.  Vladimir's dad commented something along the line that with me sitting at the table with them enjoying fellowship with them it was like he had another son.  Both those comments reminded me that even though blacks and whites and Russians and Americans have a history of mistrusting each other, true Christian fellowship transcends race and nationality.  

Frank graduated from Western in 1991 and we lost track of each other soon after that.  From time to time over the years I would think about him and our times together and wonder what he was up to.  Every few years I would google him without any success.  

Yesterday, my wife, oldest daughter, and I  were volunteering for Compassion International by handing out sponsorship packets at an event in Rockford, Illinois.  The Event was the 2023 Soar Awards a gospel music awards show.  We were about the only white people in attendance.  

When you volunteer at an event like this, there is a lot of downtime between responsibilities.  During those times I listened to the music emanating from the stage, and started thinking about Frank.  I thought this might be the exact kind of place I could run into him.  Perhaps in an act of symmetry, he would be manning one of the many ministry tables set up inside the atrium of the theatre.  I decided to google Frank and see if I had success locating him this time.  

This beautiful tribute page is what alerted me that Frank had died almost 5 years ago.  Frank is the third (as for as I know) of friends who I met during my first year at WIU who have passed away. I wish I had reconnected with Frank before he died but I don't feel any deep regret.   Reading all the tributes I realized that Frank had continued to be the same type of person he had been in college, faithful, available, teachable, and a person who radiated Christ.  There are many testimonies of him caring for people, praying for them, and being genuinely concerned for others.  This is the Frank I knew and loved and it brings me solace to know he continued to walk in that way for another quarter of a century before passing on to eternity with God in Heaven.

A to Z Challenge 2023 Theme Reveal: A Month At The Movies

 I have some good news.  I just saved 15% by switching my insurance to Geico.  No, my news is better than that.  The A to Z Challenge is coming to a blog near you and I am very excited.  The event begins in earnest on April 1st, but on March 12th you can participate in the theme reveal at A to Z challenge.com.

 I love the A to Z challenge. I don't think it's any great stretch to say that I am still blogging in no small part due to the A to Z challenge. From 2012 to 2021 I participated nine times in the challenge.  Over that time I have entered 5 of my blogs in the challenge sometimes as many as 3 in the same year. 

I love almost everything about the challenge.  I love reading other people's blogs and commenting on them. I love how so many of the blogs I currently have on my blogroll have participated at one time or another in the challenge.   I love creating a theme and disciplining myself to post 26 times on that theme. I especially love putting things in alphabetical order.  I think I'll put that last sentence in alphabetical order: "alphabetical, especially I in love order. putting things" (Yes, I put the punctuation marks in alphabetical order as well. Who Wouldn't?)

Every year until they make the big announcement  I get a little concerned that maybe they won't be doing the challenge this year.  I'm a weird dude, 49% optimist, 49% pessimist, and 2% milk in a glass half full. But I have been blogging for a long time and I've seen lots of blogs and blogging events be lost and gone forever, dreadful sorry Clementine over the years.  So when I heard the A to Z challenge was coming back and better than ever I was stoked.  

Since I am so jacked that the Challenge is on, I decided to announce my theme a little early this year. My 2023 Theme is A Month at the Movies.  

2692117 © Laura Domenica Cantisani | Dreamstime.com 

 I have been posting a lot lately about films.  I am spending this year revamping my 100 favorite film list.  I am trying to watch 12 new movies to me this year and post about them here.  I have been thinking about a simple movie theme for the challenge for the past few years.  I say a simple theme because in the past, I have participated in the challenge at more than one blog at a time, and last year I had 3 themes in one challenge: home runs, limericks, and wordle starting guesses.  Compared to those 26 movie reviews will be a walk in the park, but not A Walk to Remember, as my A film will be Arsenic and Old Lace.  

The A to Z Theme for 2023 is resiliency.  With each film I choose, I will incorporate how that film demonstrates resiliency in one way or another. 

I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I am super excited about this year's A to Z challenge.   I'm so excited that I've already thought of my theme for the 2024 challenge.   Since I'm already in full reveal mode, and since my ADHD will probably interfere with remembering it for next year I'll just reveal my 2024 A to Z challenge theme now. The 2024 theme will be Narnian characters and creatures from A to Z.  My working title is Narnia: From Aslan to Zardeenah.  

Before I get too far ahead of myself here are the important dates for this year's challenge.

March 12th - March 18th:             Theme Reveal

April 1st:                                          The Letter A

April3rd -April 8th:                         Letters B-G

April 10th -15th:                               Letters H-M

April 17th -22nd:                              Letters N-S

April 24th-April30th:                       Letters Letters T-Z

May 1st - May 6th:                            A to Z Reflections

May 15th:                                            A to Z Road Trip Begins

 Check out   A to Z challenge.com for more information I may have missed. Click here for more on the Theme Reveal. Click here to see who has signed up so far.

February Stats

 1/6th of the year is in the books.  It's now time again for a look at last month's posting trends.  A look at my blog archive shows I published 10 months last month and 9 in January.  While that is technically true, I actually wrote 11 posts last month and backdated this one as it was supposed to originally appear on January 23rd. The breakdown goes like this 10 posts in February,  A total of 11 posts from December to January, and 7 posts from September to November.  The 10 in February is quite a bit higher than the 6-month monthly average of 4.67 and is 2 more than February '22 and 4 more than February 21.  

At the end of January, I was on pace to get 96 posts this year.  The 19 posts in 2 months have me slated at this pace to get 114 posts by year's end.

The Catered Affair

 

As I mentioned in my Januarying post, I am trying to watch 12 new movies to me this year and review them here on my blog.  I am trying to find movies made at different times, 8 during my lifetime and 4 before I was born.  The Catered Affair fits into the latter designation being made in 1956. The National Board of Review said it was one of the best 10 films of 1956 and awarded Debbie Reynolds Best Supporting Actor. 

TCM

I enjoyed this movie and would give it probably 3 out of 5 stars. The movie features Ernest Borgnine and Bette Davis as a New York City Cab Driver and his wife who are advised at the film's start of the upcoming marriage of their daughter portrayed by Debbie Reynolds.  The film then depicts the changes that take place in the relationships of family and friends in preparation for the marriage.  One theme that is explored in the film is the differing perspectives, challenges, and expectations that are experienced in both weddings and marriages.  This movie is similar in at least 4 ways to one of my top 10 favorite films, Marty.  1) It takes place in New York City in the 1950s and New York itself functions like a character, 2) It stars Ernest Borgnine. 3)  It was written by Paddy Chayefsky and 4) originally aired on television before being adapted for film. 

One thing I like about this movie is that it takes a "warts and all" view of both family and marriage but still remains hopeful about the institutions.  One thing I disliked about the movie was that it was no Marty.  Marty is a film that I can watch again, and again and never grow tired of. This movie lacks the endearing charm and cosmopolitan wit of Marty. This doesn't make it a bad film, just not a top-10 one. I think people who like Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine or Debbie Reynolds will like this movie.  I also feel people who watch this movie will end up liking Davis, Borgnine, and Reynolds as they all do good work here. 

23 23 Aziz Ansari

Today is the 23rd of February. It is also the year 2023. Starting on January 23 (Actually, I started today read more about that by clicking here.)    I began making posts about people born on the 23rd of the current month.

Today I am featuring Aziz Ansari who played Tom Haverford on the NBC comedy Parks & Rec.

                  A Typical Tom Haverford Pose

Ansari was Born on February 23rd, 1983 in Columbia, South Carolina.  I was born on the23rd of September in 1964.  I graduuated from High School in 1983, and I lived in Columbia for 2 years from 1996 to 1998.  If you are not familiar with Park & Rec, the  scene below  is a really good intro to the Tom Haverford character,

The # 1 song in the United Kingdom on February 23rd, 1983 was Too Shy by Kajagoogoo. 

Timber-Lee closing and Trinity College and grad school going virtual only.

 Two places near and dear to me are ending their work as we know it in the coming months.  These places are Camp Timber-Lee in East Troy,  Wisconsin, and Trinity College in Deerfield, Illinois.  Both of these establishments have long histories, both recently celebrating a milestone.  In 2022 Trinity College celebrated its 125th anniversary and Timber-Lee celebrated its 75th.  If this were the Electric Company short, Letter Man, The villainous Spellbinder would take out his magic wand and change the first E to a  second L making milestone, millstone.  I'm not sure what to call the millstone. Perhaps it was  Covid, perhaps a change in the culture of education, perhaps a change in the paradigm of Christian camping; likely a combination of all 3.  But the millstone around Trinity International University whose umbrella is around both Camp Timberlee and Trinity has caused business as usual in the college's case and possibly business altogether to come crashing to a halt in the very near future.  

 I was never a student at Trinity, but I have visited their campus on multiple occasions over the past 40 years.  I have slept in their dorms, eaten in their cafeterias, and played frisbee in their courtyards.  I have attended classes, visited students, and borrowed materials from their library.  I even at one time had a Trinity library card. 

In 2016, Camp Timberlee was gifted by the Evangelical Free Church Association (EFCA)  to Trinity International University (TIU).  I have a long history with Camp Timber-Lee. I was baptized in their lake in 1986 at a church picnic. I did a polar plunge in the same lake in January 2020. My wife Amy and our children once attended a home school camp there and our family slept in one if their famous cabooses. I have visited friends who worked there on multiple occasions. I even flipped over a snapping turtle  who had was trapped on his back bicycling near their grounds while visiting a staff member. I was bicycling near the camp, I'm assuming the snapping turtle was a pedestrian. 

Over the past 15 years, I have chaperoned a half dozen or so arctic blast and winter X-treme trips with our church kids groups and youth groups which has included at least one of my children on each occasion. 3 of my favorite things to do at those winter retreats are

1. A trip to their nature center where there is always an obligatory snake pic taken of one of my children.

2. To spend hours playing gaga ball with students.

3. To spend hours playing nine-square with students.

There is a multitude of other things to do at Timber-Lee: Ropes course, rec room, x-country skiing, zip line, sledding, tubing, tobogganing, horseback riding, broomball, and karaoke, just to name a few.  Of course, camps are a lot of fun and make lasting memories.  But Timber-Lee was all about sharing the gospel and promoting Christian growth.  This spiritual aspect of their ministry is the main reason why so many people are shocked and saddened about its demise.    

When camps like these go under there is often talk of getting new funding and continuing the ministry.  Sometimes something comes out of it like the recent change of ownership of what used to be called Cedar Campus in the upper peninsula of Michigan.  Timber-Lee has a plethora of staff, campers, and alumni who would love to see the ministry continue to grow.

As for Trinity College the class of 2023 seems to be the last class as a residential college as they make the transition to distance learning only.  TIU sees this as a new beginning that fits with its global strategy.  I, for one, hope that is true, but need time to reflect on the past and what will surely be missed.  

Love,

Dave

  

Deep Valley - Rich Mullins Live Album - Out on Streaming Devices.

Rich Mullins passed away over 25 years ago. His music is as meaningful and relevant to me today as it was back then. This is one reason why I am so delighted that a recording of a concert he gave many years ago has just been released on almost all of the streaming platforms and is also available on c.d. The Album is called Deep Valley and was recorded at Deep Valley Christian Service Camp in Western Pennsylvania.  Rich loved this camp and my understanding is that he performed there often. Here is a recording of the song Finish Line recorded at the camp in July of 1983.  (This song is not on the album.)

 

Rich Mullins's music still has an impact on people today as attested in this New York Times Piece. Bellsburg, the album mentioned in the NYT piece has been available for streaming since November and Deep Valley dropped (as the cool kids say) earlier this month.

Both albums were funded on Kickstarter and produced by Old Bear Records.  I received both albums on C.D. by participating in the Kickstarter.  I enjoy both albums immensely.   I guess if pressed, I would say I like Deep Valley every bit as well as Bellsburg as it is great to hear Rich playing in a concert setting again on a new recording.  I highly recommend either album.  

My wife and I are going to listen to Deep Valley on the way home from work today.

Love, 

Dave

Poets in the Family

 My daughter Emma and I started attending a live poem workshop at our library at the beginning of the year.  It meets on the first Monday of the month and the first thing we do is go around the table and share a poem we have already written if we would like to.  

Monday Afternoon was very hectic at my house.  Amy was out and about and everything was going wrong.  The workshop started half an hour earlier than I thought it did, dinner was a hot mess,and I was in a foul foul mood.  By the time we got on our way a gorgeous full moon was shining on the river that our library sits upon and it had a calming effect on my soul reminding me what the important things were and how I was chasing the unimportant.  

Emma and I got into the meeting right as the poetry sharing was beginning. I jotted this poem down and then recited it when it was my turn.

Inside Outside Upside Down

(With No Apologies to Sam And Jan Berenstain)

Inside

Running late

Mixed up meeting time

bad mood

burnt food

rush rush rush

Outside

Circle moon

Yellow glow

Silence between loved ones

That speaks comfort

Through the admiration of beauty

I'd like my inside to be more like the outside. 

After I read my poem Emma read hers.  She had written it previously but I  still took it as a warning that I need to be careful with my words, thoughts, and actions so I don't hurt the ones I love.

I encouraged Emma to start a poetry blog. She had a few other blogs when she was younger, but doesn't use them now.  Her poem and my poem are both at Poetry Friday this week.  It is being hosted this week by Carol at Beyond Literacy Link.

Love,

Dave

The first 40 days of Reading 2023

 One of my Januarying tasks was to get back into reading and listening to books.  Last year, I pretty much stopped reading altogether at the end of July. As I referred to here and here. August through December of 2022 was a crazy busy time of my life; as a result, some things got dropped and books certainly didn't get picked up.

Over Christmas Break I started reading again.  Today is the 40th day of the year and so far I have finished 8 books.

They are  Listed by Title, Author, How obtained, How Consumed

Dead Center                                  David Rosenfelt          Hoopla                Listened to from phone

Heaven                                           Randy Alcorn             Own                    Read (to self)

Dryer's English                               Benjamin Dryer         Local Library     Read (to self and others)

A Big Day for Baseball                  Mary Pope Osborn     Classroom         Read (to self)

Big Nate: Welcome To My World   Lincoln Pierce           Classroom         Read (to self)

Play Dead                                        David Rosenfelt          Hoopla             Listened to from phone

Billy Graham: America's Pastor      Geoff & Janet Benge  Hoopla             Listened to from phone

Unnatural Death                               Dorothy L. Sayers      Hoopla             Read from my Ipad. 

That's 8 books finished in 40 days.  There are 365 days this year which means to find out how many books I'm on pace to read in a year you would just multiply 8 times 9.125 which us of course 73 books.  

I guess since I've mentioned the last 8 books I've read I've also technically mentioned the last five as well  That being said, here are 10 books that I am currently working on or hoping to get too soon.

The Annotated Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen Annotated and Edited by David M. Shapard.

The Last Sweet Mile - Allen Levi

Write Better - Andrew T. Le Peau

Gentle and Lowly - Dane Ortlund

Luke - The Gospel of Amazement - Michael Card

What To Do on Thursday - Jay E. Adams. 

75 Readings - An Anthology

Heroes of the Faith - Gene Fedele

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club - Dorothy L. Sayers

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer

If I were to complete all 10 of these books in the next 40 days Then I would be on pace to finish 81 books by year's end.  My wife is sure to annihilate any kind of total I should accumulate as she is a reading machine.  

For those familiar with my reading ways you may wonder why there are no C.S. Lewis books on the docket. This is by design.  I do plan to read all of the Chronicles of Narnia this year as I've done most every year since I was 16.  The difference this year is I decided to put them off a little bit and concentrate on other books at the beginning of the year. .  When I do get to them, I have decided to read them in alphabetical order rather than chronological or Narnian historical order as I have in the past.  This means I'll start with The Horse and His Boy and end with the Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  

It's good to have started the year on a reading note.  Hopefully, I'll be back soon with news of 5 more books completed.

Love,

Dave

 

It's A Boy Sub!!!

 This is my 5th school year being a substitute teacher.  I started about 4 years ago near the beginning of the 2nd semester of the 2018-2019 school year.  In the school district I work in there, are 3 types of substitute teaching jobs.  Substitute Teacher, Long Term Sub, and Building Sub.  A substitute teacher is exactly what you think it is.  You come into a school and replace the teacher that is gone that day.  A long-term sub replaces a teacher when they are gone for 4 weeks or longer.  This is often due to maternity or paternity leave but these are not the only reasons.  A building sub is assigned to a particular school and is the first line of defense when teachers call in sick the day of school or perhaps leave during the course of school.  I spent my first 2 years as a regular sub, I have been working primarily as a long-term Sub since February of 2021 and last month started my new adventure as a building sub.

One advantage of being a long-term sub or a building sub over a regular sub is that the base pay is better.  An advantage to being a building sub over a long-term sub is that often times a long-term sub has additional duties like grading students and preparing lessons that a building sub does not have.  I really enjoy being a building sub because I get to know all of the kids in the school and my day to activities are extremely varied. The best part of my current position is that I work with my wife.  She is a School Psychologist in the district and I work at her school.  Most days we drive in together which is not only a great way to spend time together but also a great way to save money.

Most days I don't get my assignment for the day until I'm on my way to school.   Some days I'm subbing for multiple teachers due to meetings or trainings, others I'm in for just one teacher.  The latter occurred earlier this week.  I went into the classroom and was sitting at the teacher's desk reviewing the plans that had been laid out for me.  I heard a commotion brewing in the hallway.  On this day the teacher had come to school, realized she was too sick to teach, and left before the school day started.  She was not able to leave the building before being spotted by some of her students.  The commotion I heard brewing was the students discussing the prospect of who their sub would be.

The kids are supposed to sit by their cubbies until the teacher lets them in their room at a certain time.  Buoyed by their excitement at the prospect of a sub they kept popping up and looking through the glass window in the door to see who their sub was.  One by one I heard the delighted shrieks of "It's A Boy Sub!".  At that moment I knew what my next blog entry would be titled.

This is my 5th week at the school and most of the students know who I am by now.  So when the comments switched from it's a boy sub, to it's Mr. Roller, I met them at the door and let them in a few minutes early.  

While there are certainly more female teachers than male ones in my district, there are still quite a few men teachers.  What there aren't a lot of are male subs.  I've only encountered a few in the time I've been subbing. Even so, I didn't really expect that kind of reaction from my students that day.  I think that one of the reasons I like being an educator, especially a building sub,  is that most every day I experience the unexpected. 

Love, 

Dave

Januarying

 January 2023 is in the books, more proof that the calendar plays for keeps.  My wife thinks that this January would never end and was glad to see the back of it (Sorry, she had Downton Abbey on , and I couldn't help myself.). For me, January ended too quickly, I hadn't finished all my Januarying. 

I've always been  a little bit uncertain when it comes to  what I think about New Year's resolutions.  On one hand, I think that they are a colossal waste of time because we should always be trying to improve ourselves and we  don't need December 31st telling us what to do.  On the other hand, there are definitely things I like to try to accomplish every year and January 1st seems like a good time to start accomplishing those things.

Some of these goals (I do like goals better than resolutions) vary from year to year and many of them don't get accomplished.  I do spend quite a bit of time each January planning to accomplish them, which is why I call making a game plan for the goals, Januarying. 

One goal I have every year is to average 10,000 steps a day for the year.  2022 is the only year so far I have met that goal.  I had come close in 2021 averaging around 9,200 steps a day.  It really was a tale of two halves where I averaged just 7,000 steps from January to June and then averaged close to 11,500 to close out the year.  I made my goal for 2022 to be averaging at least 10,000 steps for the entire year (In 2005 White Sox parlance we call that going wire to wire). To that end I walked 26,122 steps on Jauary 1st.  We had a small party at out house on New Years Eve  and after our guests left, I walked our neighborhood for a little while.  Most of the steps came later that day when I got the job of patrolling the movie theatre where I work which means walking up and down 12 theatres every 20 or 30 minutes to make sure  the equipment and audience members are behaving appropriately.  

This year I decided to approach repeating my accomplishment differently. I made a calendar in my mind and decided in advance how many steps I wanted to get on the given month.  At the end of the year, If I make all my goals I will have again averaged  over 10,000 steps for the year.  In January, I set my goal for far lower than 10,000 but still beat the average I set for myself by more than 1,000 steps a day.  

Some of my other Januarying goals have to do with or are chronicled on my blog.  I will be posting more soon about my goals of watching 12 new movies (to me) and reviewing them here, and my reading goal for the year.  So. Ill just table such discussion for now, except to say that I have spent quite a bit of Januarying plotting out some of the books and films I want to consume this year and going about consuming them.  Each December and January I spend time redesigning my blog. I have especially enjoyed  linking some new blogs to mine in a space called Blog Try Outs. One such blog is called Laws of Gravity The caretaker of Laws of Gravity is a substitute teacher like myself.

At my advanced age of 58 years, 4 months, 1 week, 4 days and 12 hours (It's actually 11 hours, but I still have to edit this post.) , I am beginning to hear more and more about finishing well.  I feel like I might be a tad young for that, but Januarying has been instrumental in helping me start well.  

January Stats

 In January of 2023 I posted 8 times.  This was five posts more than I had in November and December 2022 combined.  I  really limped tot he finish line of 2022 blog wise. 2022 wasn't a wholly unsuccessful year in that regards.  I had 102 posts in 2022 just 15 less than I had in 2021.  The problem was that 86 of those posts were from January to June and only 21 were in the 2nd half of the year.  I consider that a missed opportunity.

The 8 posts this past January put me on  pace to have 96 by years end.  Hopefully this will not be a February flop but will be even more successful than how the year began.  

Thanks to my lovely editor/proofreader/wife who keeps me on track bloggingwise and in so many areas of my life.  

Love,

Dave

Random Videos

Over the years I have taken so many videos for my blogs.  Here are some random ones I'd like to share today.

This "kid" just got engaged.  11 years ago He was in robotics with my son.

LJ Smooth FKA Wolflina FKA Puppy

Her first HI

Bob Bennett playing at my church after taping an album locally.

 

Dave Out Loud loses and finds his Wallet @roldaver