a year of big anniversaries

40 YEARS AGO  we graduated from college, got married and moved across country so I could go to grad school at Virginia Tech.  (The order of the previously listed events is based on chronology, not importance.)

30 YEARS AGO after completing a Fulbright Lectureship at a Nigerian university,  we moved to a little college town in Northern New York.  The Sunday before Labor Day I attended Christian Fellowship Center for the first time.  Despite never having been in a church quite like it, I immediately knew it was home.  It has been ever since.  The next day (yes, on Labor Day) I taught my first class at St. Lawrence University.

20 YEARS AGO I visited a church, Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, and experienced the so-called laughing rival (a.k.a., the Toronto Blessing, the Father’s Blessing).  It had a huge impact on me.  I have never, ever since questioned God’s love for me, no matter what has happened in my life. God's love was never an issue, not even during a period of severe depression.

10 YEARS AGO I experienced probably the worst day of my life.  This caused me to seek professional counseling for depression.  After counseling, after living most of my life with the illness, I have been depression free.

ZERO YEARS AGO I now know a great God and I am knowing Him better each day.  I have a great wife as companion and friend and I find her more attractive in more ways each day.  I attend a great church with over-the-top wonderful pastors for whom I am thankful to God each day.  I have a great job (with tenure!) teaching great students at a great small college for which I am more grateful each day.  I live in a great little village in the great undiscovered paradise of New York's North Country and I appreciate living here more each day.

As you can see from the previous great-full paragraph that I am grateful.  I'm not bragging since I cannot really take any credit.  At a minimum, that would assume I thought I knew what I was doing! I have been greatly blessed in a great many ways.  The past decade has literally been the best years of my life and the last two years by far the happiest of those.

I know I deserve none of this and that realization makes me very grateful indeed.

Be blessed!
RB

reviewing books

After clearing out my files and storing records, I ended my spring semester. This past week I have determined to do nothing productive. That is, take a vacation of sorts. What I like to do when doing nothing is read. I have quite a backlog of titles, mostly gifts, that I haven't had time for in the past year.

I started with Niall Ferguson's The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World. Despite its grandiose title, it is accessible to the general reader and written in an interesting fashion. If you could read only one book on the financial/banking crisis, this would be the one. It takes the reader by the hand from the beginning of modern financial markets less than four hundred years ago to the present, explaining how financial markets are inherently unstable. By the end you are not too surprised but still impressed by what happened in the past few years.

After this I purposed to stay away from anything having to do with economics. After all, I am on vacation. I started a recommended Indian (South Asian) novel, which will remain nameless. I read one hundred pages before I gave up. If it hasn't got you by then it is unlikely to ever do so. My wife also had a similar reaction. However if you want a real page-turner of an Indian novel, try Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance (an Oprah's Book Club selection).

On Thursday I grabbed off the shelf an unread book given as a gift, Robert Moore's On Hallowed Ground: The Story of Arlington National Cemetery. A great read and I didn't even realize when I started that I'd be finishing it over the Memorial Day weekend!

I'm about to pick up another given-some-time-ago-as-a-gift-but-still-unread book. I'll let you know how it goes.

Be blessed!
RB

P.S. Tired of reading, last night we watched a very good film, End of the Spear. It is available on Netflix, DVD and on hulu.com.

wanna see my great nephew?

My sister's grandson is graduating from Shiloh Christian and he played Saints football for three years there and they won three state championships. Troy is #58 (6'3" 270#) and his best friends are Sam Harvill #53 and Kiehl Frazier #15. They are all great kids from good families. All three and one more received Division 1 football scholarships. Not bad for a school of 300 with 40 boys on the football team. This is Troy's highlight video:



An hour-long FRONTLINE show about H.S. football and head injuries aired earlier this week. Sure it had its slant, but I got to see my nephew. A shorter segment on QB Kiehl Frazier is below:

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

Here is the complete hour-long show is HERE.

spring break

RB spent seven weeks getting caught up at work. Then Spring Break! Problem: RB gave tests in all his classes just before break. Why not? It is the halfway point in the semester. A logical time for evaluating learning. More on that later.

Nine days of break. The first three days began with the #1 grandson visiting us. Oh yeah, his parents were here as well. The next three days was spent traveling to and from Boston with a day and half in between looking at apartments for my #3 offspring (#1 daughter).

After visiting potential apartments, mostly overpriced, very old, flats with were once chopped up from 100+ year old housing, we made an offer on the first apartment we saw.

It was the biggest, nicest apartment we visited and at a rent below what we expected. That is, just exorbitantly expensive rather than outlandishly exorbitantly expensive.

No undergrads, a quiet, well-maintained, well-built building, an outstanding management company on the premises, on a safe street, with a T-station (Boston trolley) at the corner. Near stores and other businesses. No need for a car but parking if you have one. In short, a real, big-time blessing.

Friday, the seventh day of break, I slept in and then watched an NCIS marathon. Georgetown later lost big time in the NCAAs.

The highlight of this weekend, the last two days of break, is a visit by our #1 granddaughter.

However, I must spend all tomorrow afternoon, and well into the evening, grading tests. Last day of break will not be the best of the nine days.

Be blessed!
RB

william on the lunar rover

We spent the weekend in NH. A good time to visit since Friday was William's six-month birthday. The kid has more stuff than I ever had. It is also way cooler. Among his impressive equipment, as pictured here, is what I call his lunar rover.

William's mom is a lecturer at Dartmouth this semester. Her office is in a wing off the Baker Library and is in the nicest office suite I have ever seen. Picture 80-year old real-wood paneled offices with 14-foot high, or more, ceilings, off a room filled with books, leather uphostered chairs, and a gorgeous conference table.

Come to think of it, don't try to picture it. It is nicer than you can imagine. I told William's dad that no matter how high he climbs the corporate ladder, he will never have as nice an office as his wife now has.

Be blessed!
RB

tummy time on thanksgiving

William, Henry, and Koufax

directions2canton

directions2canton

a manly man child

RB spent Thursday through Sunday in New Hampshire hanging out with his three-month-old grandson. They spent a lot of time laughing and discussing world events.

William is about the happiest, best-natured baby RB has ever seen.

Like most babies William is attracted to colorful objects. However, when RB showed his grandson a plain gray remote control, William's eyes locked on it. There was nothing to attract him except a deep, primordial, abiding desire to be one with the remote.

This intensity clearly indicates that William is indeed a great manly man child.

Later William spent a long time laying on this grandpa's lap where they held a lengthy conversation speaking in unknown tongues. They had a great time giggling and laughing in the joy of the Lord.

Obviously, this baby is also a great manly man child spiritually.

We can only conclude that even at three months old, he is a totally awesome guy.

Be blessed!
RB

tuckies win over yale grad school

Last Saturday was the first game of the year for the Tuck (School of Business at Dartmouth) rugby team. It was also Captain Kenny's first rugby game ever. (That's him in the middle.) After falling behind, Tuck eventually won 17-10 over Yale Graduate School. For more....

aggregated china posts #4

This may well be the last of MissBeee's posts on our China trip:

Lazy Lijiang Days.

Food.

Previous posts on our 2010 China trip:

a great wall day

aggregated post on china trip

aggregated china post #2

stealing from the best -- aggregated china posts #3

someone's grandparents went to china

stealing from the best -- aggregated china posts #3

I'm "aggregating" posts again. Three posts are a continuation of MissBeee's series about our China trip. She has some great pics:

1) Xi'an: Er.
2) Going South.
3) Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Plus another post from Mrs. B. about last weekend in NH:

A month of this and that.....

The pic above is at the guesthouse in Lijiang.

Earlier posts about our trip to China:
a great wall day
aggregated post on china trip
someone's grandparents went to china
aggregated china post #2

here's why koufax improves my productivity

From THE ECONOMIST

Animal and human behaviour
Manager's best friend:
Dogs improve office productivity

Aug 12th 2010

THERE are plenty of studies which show that dogs act as social catalysts, helping their owners forge intimate, long-term relationships with other people. But does that apply in the workplace? Christopher Honts and his colleagues at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant were surprised to find that there was not much research on this question, and decided to put that right. They wondered in particular if the mere presence of a canine in the office might make people collaborate more effectively. And, as they told a meeting of the International Society for Human Ethology in Madison, Wisconsin, on August 2nd, they found that it could. To reach this conclusion, they carried out two experiments. In the first, they brought together 12 groups of four individuals and told each group to come up with a 15-second advertisement for a made-up product. Everyone was asked to contribute ideas for the ad, but ultimately the group had to decide on only one. Anyone familiar with the modern “collaborative” office environment will know that that is a challenge. Some of the groups had a dog underfoot throughout, while the others had none. After the task, all the volunteers had to answer a questionnaire on how they felt about working with the other—human—members of the team. Mr Honts found that those who had had a dog to slobber and pounce on them ranked their team-mates more highly on measures of trust, team cohesion and intimacy than those who had not. In the other experiment, which used 13 groups, the researchers explored how the presence of an animal altered players’ behaviour in a game known as the prisoner’s dilemma. In the version of this game played by the volunteers, all four members of each group had been “charged” with a crime. Individually, they could choose (without being able to talk to the others) either to snitch on their team-mates or to stand by them. Each individual’s decision affected the outcomes for the other three as well as for himself in a way that was explained in advance. The lightest putative sentence would be given to someone who chose to snitch while the other three did not; the heaviest penalty would be borne by a lone non-snitch. The second-best outcome came when all four decided not to snitch. And so on. Having a dog around made volunteers 30% less likely to snitch than those who played without one. The moral, then: more dogs in offices and fewer in police stations.

forty years later

RB met an attractive, non-short young woman at Freshmen Orientation on Tuesday the 11th of August, 1970. That evening we had enchiladas for dinner together.

Tonight, August 11th, forty years later, RB took this same attractive, non-short woman out for enchiladas. If memory serves me correct, The Cactus Grill is better than dorm food.

celebration! | nymrsb on xanga

Someone reached a milestone on Wednesday:

Celebration! | nymrsb on Xanga

aggregated china post #2

I again find myself able to aggregate some posts about our China trip last month. This time I collected two of them from my lovely daughter Missbeee:

1) Parents 2) Xi'an

Be blessed!
RB

dad life & swagger wagon

[ht jeff k.]


[ht kwabena]

homeland security blissfully unaware of the threat to the citizens of louisville.

I received my belated Father's Day gift today from sons #1 and #2: A half-hour flying lesson at Bowman Field in Louisville, Kentucky. (The airport is about 100 yards from #2 son's home.) My co-pilot Adam actually has a license. I even had two passengers, Mrs. B. and #2 son.

We thought that I would get maybe five minutes controlling the stick toward the end of the plane ride. Adam got us airborne and leveled off at 1,200 feet. Then without any explanation or instruction, I was told to take the controls and keep heading in the same direction. At the time I was heading toward the middle of Louisville International Airport (SDF). I didn't know who had the right-of-way, a four-seat Cessna or a 180-seat jet airliner. Fortunately, the issue never came up.

Photos:

1) RB's only instruction, he's self-taught.

2) RB and his co-pilot.

3) Getting in was not easy for someone RB's size.

4) Baptist Hospital East on the approach to Bowman Field.

5) We didn't lose a single passenger, however both our passengers were married.

Flying was initially a bit scary for me, and even more so for the two in the back seats. It was a breezy day and we were bouncing around a bit. Also, the plane did not respond very quickly to the controls. After awhile it got better and I relaxed a bit. We flew by or over Churchill Downs, U of L, downtown Louisville, then up the Ohio River and over to Indiana. On the approach back to Bowman Field we flew over Baptist Hospital East, where grandson William was born last week.

Adam asked me if I wanted to take her in for the landing. He did mention he needed some practice because he wanted to get the hang of landing a bit better, so I said he could take over.

How else is he going to learn?

I was probably at the controls for twenty to twenty-five minutes.

It was cool. Very cool. A real adrenaline rush.



Below is a 5 1/2 minute video Capt. Kenny took from the back seat of the Cessna. It is actually kind of boring to watch, deadly to listen to, but here are some highlights:

• 1:29 Louisville International Airport.
• 2:22 Churchill Downs, site of the Kentucky Derby.
• 4:45 Mrs. B. during one of her calmer moments.
• 5:13 University of Louisville.
• 5:21 Downtown Louisville.

secret deal south at borders

#2 son and I were running errands when we stopped by Borders to see if they had any boxes for packing. He cleaned up with 20+ sturdy book boxes.

While waiting I noticed a very large and very nice coffee-table type book on China was on clearance. When I went to purchase it, I was offered a free Borders reward card. I said no thanks and then she mentioned that it came with $5 off my next purchase.

My quick-as-thunder mind kicked in and I asked, "You mean if I buy one of these first (pointing to some chocolates near the cash register) can I get a rewards card then use it to get $5 off the book today?" Her nod in the affirmative was notable for its absence of enthusiasm.

The book was practically a give away at $8.47 (including tax). I ended up paying a total of $3.69 for the book plus a Lindt chocolate was thrown into the deal.

Not bad: 56% off an already rock-bottom price including some very fine chocolate!

I couldn't wait to get back and tell Mrs. B. Needless to say, she was impressed with her man. Mrs. B. is a real coupon-clipping maven who makes any sales clerk regret showing up for work if she does not get the sale price plus multiple coupon discounts. No errors are allowed and it does not matter how long it takes, or how many people are involved, to straighten out a five-cent mistake.

With me, I'm being cheap. With her, it is a matter of principle.

Be blessed!
RB

intergenerational building: learning the art

William and Grandpa practicing the art of napping.
[July 17, 2010]

william allen blewett

Last night Grandma met Will "don't-call-me-Willie" Blewett in the hospital room.

The first of our Blewett ancestors in America was also named William (born 1706 in Cornwall County, England and died 1790 in Anson County, North Carolina):

William Blewett, Esq. was transported from England to the colonies when about ten years old for the trivial offense of cutting a riding switch off a nobleman's land. He was brought up in Philadelphia City in the tailor trade. From there removed to North Carolina on the Pee Dee River, which is on the line between Anson and Richmond Counties, when a young man. [He settled] on land granted to him by King George the Second and King George the Third of England. William Blewett was a Justice of the Peace for Anson County, NC in 1776. [source].

The latest Will arrived home with mom and dad this afternoon. All are doing well.

Be blessed!
RB