Earlham Schmerlham

.......As previously announced Elroy was accepted into Earlham College. This week we received a letter from Earlham informing us that our financial aid application materials had been reviewed. Earlham was "pleased" to inform us, in this letter, that Elroy could receive a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan in the amount of $1,750 dollars....for both Fall and Spring semesters to attend Earlham. That's $3,500 dollars in low interest loans..........Whoopee!!!! Tuition at Earlham stands at $34,030 for tuition and fees and $6,814 for Room & Board. To that you can also throw in approximately $500 per semester for miscellaneous personal expenses like an Earlham hoodie sweatshirt and of course travel to and fro...........I'm no math wiz like my brother-in-law (no not you Mike, the other one who doesn't read my blog) but that's like $43,000 dollars a year. The only good news would be that when Elroy graduates he wouldn't have too much debt. Ha Ha, cough. Anyway, unless my Earlham alum/brother-in-law has some major pull with the Earlham bean-counters this ain't looking good.

The Last Home Addition Update

February 25th. I can't believe it!! I talked to Jason this morning and short of the grading of the backyard (which can't be done until the yard dries out) and fixing the damage to the driveway (which will also be repaired once the weather warms) Jason thinks that by tomorrow he'll be finished. We're still waiting for the bedroom carpet to arrive and be installed so we can move into the new bedroom and start our own renovations to the the front bedroom/study. I'm also working on Jane's closet. Jane and I went out and bought more closetmaid materials to finish-off her closet....Jane has moved in but it's still a work in progress. The immeidate next step will be to clean-up, then over the summer we'll probably stain the exposed pressure-treated wood on the porch. Whether we just use a clear sealant (like Thompson's waterseal) or a colored stain or both is a decision we'll just put off until the summer.

February 28th. Tomorrow the final closeout inspection between the county and our builder is set to happen. Other than little odds and ends the construction phase is finished. Jason does not plan to be at our house tomorrow morning, but George will meet the inspector and hopefully everything will pass inspection and that's it. The carpet is scheduled to be installed Monday and then Jane and I will move into the new bedroom. We won't be using the porch yet, it being too cold but we may move some furniture out there. I'll post the finished pictures soon.

The Summer Job Search

Now that wrestling season is just about over, and Judy won't be doing spring track, they both will be looking for summer jobs. Both have interviews with the County Recreation Department next week for positions as camp counselors. Jane and I want to prepare them for the interview and I've tried to come up with some questions to ask them, and would appreciate any other suggested questions to ask them.

1. The generic tell me about yourself.....

1a: what school do you attend?

1b: what is your favorite subject?

1c: what after school activities do you participate in?

1d: do you have any hobbies?

1e: what summer camps have you attended?

1f: what summer camps (or camp activities) did you most enjoy?

1g: what summer camps (0r camp activites) did you not like?

1h: where do you live, how would you get to camp?

2. The how would you handle this situation question......

2a: 2 campers start a fight, what would you do?

2b: a parent complains about their son's/daughter's treatment, what do you do?

2c: a camper appears upset after being left by their parents at camp, what do you do?

3. What past work experiences have you had?

4. What are your strengths?

5. What are your weaknesses?

Greenway UltraMarathon March 1st

The Seneca Creek Greenway Trail 50K and Marathon (we just call it Ed's race) is on March 1st. Jane and I have been training pretty hard for this race, at least I've been feeling tired on most of our runs the past couple of weeks. We have one more long training run this weekend and then we'll probably....hopefully back-off on the mileage. I'm not sure whether I'll go for the 28-ish mile marathon or just bite the bullet and do the 50 K ultra. I just visited the site this morning and was amused by this cautionary note in the"New and Notes" update about the race.

Snow, ice, rain, cold, sleet, wind and high water do not bother us. However, if the weather is really severe.......the race may have to be cancelled.

Read my account of last year's race to get a flavor of what is consider acceptable weather conditions.

Here's the last admonition: No complaining.

I'm really looking forward to this race!

March 4, 2008. Well, my race was largely forgetable.....bad leg cramps and nausea developed during the 4 mile loop (miles 15-19) around Lake Clopper and by mile 21-22 (after the section of trail after Riffleford Rd.) I was toast and out of the race. I'm not sure what went wrong. I don't think I went out too fast, I was with a running buddy (Jim C.) at Lake Clopper (who finished the 50K in 6:45) and I had run the HAT 50K in around 6:50 last year so I don't think I was going too fast. Perhaps I should have been taking in more salt, using the Succeed supplements I used last year during the Marine Corps Marathon. I don't know, anyway Jane went on to finish in 6:24.55 (finishing 23 out of 36 women runners) and received a nice finishers hat. I'm just kidding about the hat, she got one but it wasn't reward enough for the effort Jane expended. She is still little sore but intends to do some light running tonight. I didn't have as much muscle strain and have been able to run the past few days. Hopefully, we'll get back on track for our morning runs soon and now that it's gettng warmer and both Elroy and Judy don't have any spring sports commitments maybey we'll be able to get them out with us as well.

Home Addition Update

February 13th. Our home remodeling project was started the day after the Thanksgiving holiday and we were told it would take approximately 11 weeks. By my calculation we're now in our 12th week, and although I believe Jason is mostly finished inside there is still work to do outside. On the inside we still need to have the bedroom carpet installed; it's been orderd but we're still waiting. Other than that, most of the carpentry, electrical and plumbing on the inside is finished; Jane and I still need to work on Jane's walk-in closet but that won't take long once we get started. I think they still have a week outside to finish the porch. Maybe it'll all come together really fast but our past experience is that the final little bit of work takes a long time to complete. Anyway, it's nearly done

February 15th. I talked with Jason this morning and he seems to think they'll be done by the middle of next week. That would be great. Today, he planned to grade the back yard to ensure rain water flows from the house to the storm drain. Supposedly, one of those small CAT earth movers was going to be delivered and it sounded like he was going to do an extensive amount of grading in the back and side yards. This is something that probably would have to be done at some point. Because our yard is at the bottom of the street (and a creek used to run through the side yard) I'm sure this area flooded regularly so we need to pay close attention to water runoff issues.

February 19th. Well, Jason was unable to grade last week....the ground was too wet on top and frozen underneath; the tracks on the CAT earth mover just spun in the muck. So, they'll have to revisit the grading once the weather clears up long enough for the backyard to dry out. Every since the project began, it has rained nearly every week and right now the back yard is only suitable for pig wallowing or mud wrestling......or pig wrestling. Anyway, they do plan on being 99% finished by the end of the week. The cedar shakes are going up on the inside wall of the porch and the screen doors and sceen and lattice panels are being installed over the next couple of days. On the inside, I've started installing shelves and clothes rods in Jane's closet and that should go pretty fast; the only hard part is determining how to best utilize the space. It's a work in progress.

February 20th. I'm hoping by the time I get home tonight the porch will be substantially done. It didn't appear that there was much progress yesterday, but maybe I just anxious for them to be done. After the porch is completed, Jason still has a number of little odds and ends to take care of. I still think that they'll be here some next week.....but I hope I'm wrong.

February 21: The cedar shakes are up and they look great. The lattice panels are nearly complete and probably will be done by later today. The screen doors are up and all that's left are the screen panels around the porch. By tomorrow they'll surely be finished, except for the fact that a weather front is supposed to be coming through later tonight and tommorrow. Snow followed by sleet, freezing rain, and rain, but I'm not sure what the exact order is. This will likely cancel school tomorrow and make work conditions untenable. Maybe they'll push to get the screen panels done today, but there are still some details that will need to be completed next week.

February22: Early this morning snow, sleet and now rain is falling. Schools are canceled and Judy and Elroy are home. The porch is still unfinished and will need at least one concerted day of work to be completed. So like I said, Jason will be here next week. The grading will be put off until some future date when the backyard is dry enough for scaping.

Woof....UMBC accepts Elroy

Elroy was accepted at UMBC...one of the University of Maryland's Honors Universities. We're still hoping he gets accetped at St. Mary's College, but UMBC would be fine. Congrats to Elroy!

Woof!

ROSSSS!!!

Physics Unit 7 Lab: Spring Waves
Data Table- Spring B					13-Feb-08
		n	L (m)	x	t (s)	v (m/s)	FT(N)
Wave Pulse		2	7.24	1	1.34	10.81	8
		A	w	x	t	v
Standing Wave 1		1	14.48	10	16.71	8.67
	2	2	7.24	10	9.2	7.87
	3	3	4.83	10	5.47	8.83
	4	4	3.62	10	3.73	9.71	VAvg= 9.178
							Mass= .69 kg
		n	L(m)	x	t (s)	v (m/s)	FT (N)
Wave Pulse		2	8.59	1	1.51	11.38	11.5
		A	w	x	t	v
Standing Wave 1		1	17.18	10	13.45	12.77
	2	2	8.59	10	7.51	11.44
	3	3	5.73	10	4.66	12.3
	4	4	4.295	10	3.53	12.17	VAvg= 12.012
							Mass= .68 kg
		n	L (m)	x	t (s)	v (m/s)	FT (N)
Wave Pulse		2	9.985	1	1.31	15.24	17
		A	w	x	t	v
Standing Wave 1		1	19.97	10	12.59	15.86
	2	2	9.985	10	6.35	15.72
	3	3	6.66	10	4.28	15.56
	4	4	4.9925	10	3.47	14.39	VAvg= 15.354
							Mass= .72 kg
		The mass of the spring is .7 kg

Will Judy be a Terp?

Judy received a letter over the weekend acknowledging that she was accepted in the Univeristy of Maryland.....but not until Spring, 2009. It seems the UM fills up early, and you need to apply early for Fall admission.....which Judy missed. Anyway, if she attends UM, she can always take Fall courses at Montgomery College that will transfer or, as the acceptance letter indicated, she can travel. Travel?

Home Addition Update

February 11th. We installed the shades in the bedroom over the weekend. They look very nice....a little darker than the blinds in the family room that nicely complement the rich mahogony color of the doors. We did some thinking and planning how to tackle Jane's walk-in closet over the weekend but with two long trail runs and Elroy's wrestling match, we did not have the time to purchased any closetmaid yet. The bathroom is just about finished. The tilework was done last week and on Friday Jason installed the shower curtain rod. But...the curtain rod he installed was white.....while all the other fixtures in the bathroom are chrome.....what's up with that? I had to ask Jason this morning whether we could change out the white curtain rod for a chrome curtain rod. I hated to ask him to undo his work but chrome matches the other fixtures in the bathroom and we should have been asked our preference since BONI ordered the accessory. So, I don't feel too bad. Anyway, I think he kinda expected the question and said he would speak with George (who does all the ordering for BONI). I think we'll wind up getting the chrome shower rod. Anyway, Jane spent a lot of time cleaning up all the dust that had settled in the bathroom and reorganizing the bathroom closet......it looks great. Both Jane and Judy used the new bathroom shower over the weekend. The curtain rod has a nice featue...it's bowed---that's the way its made---to provide more elbow room when your using the shower. This morning was really cold, in the teens cold. Jason planned to finish up some inside work in the morning like installing the shoe molding but would be outside later working on the porch. I thought they'd be nearly finished this week, but they may still be here next some week. We'll see.

February 12th. When I got home last, the shoe molding was installed in the hallway and closet amd Jason had begun working on the porch railings but there isn't too much to add. The locks to the two new outside doors (from the bedroom and basement) were being changed-out this morning to locks that have been re-keyed to use our regular house keys. It will be nice to be able to exit and enter through the basement door when Jane and I go running in the mornings. We should use the basement entrance as much a possible to reduce the amount of dirt and dust we track through the house. Today is primary voting day. Since I'm registered as an independent, I'll be on the sidelines waiting to see whether Obama or Cilnton gets the most votes.

Wisdom is Wasted on the Young

Judy's wisdom teeth have been bothering her and we're going to have them removed on Thursday. The bottom set have come through her gums, but at wierd angles, and the top pair are impacted. She'll be under general anethesia for the approximately 1 1/2 hour procedure. Judy was concerned that as her wisdom teeth come in they'll unalign her other teeth.....which look perfect. What I don't understand if why these teeth, that emerge in the late teens, are considered "wisdom" teeth. Teenagers are neither mature nor wise. In fact, this is the age when one is most likely to make some really regrettable mistakes in one's life. Maybe I'm just speaking form personal experience, but I think they should be called something like....."whoops" or "OMG" teeth.

Anyway, here are Judy's wisdom teeth the day they were pluck out......yuk!