Good Morning

Yawn. Hey, I'm blogging again. I think I'm going to start an anonymous blog or maybe take a blogger alter-ego so I can rant about things in peace. But not today. The Education System is Down Yep, been in the trenches for nigh on ten years and public school is busted. Look, kids spend more years in school now than they ever have. They start in PK3. That's three years old. When I was three, well, I was probably setting up plastic animals on the living room hearth in an attempt to create three dimensional, biospheric murals. But I wasn't in school, that I can assure you. I was playing. In my house, with my jam jams on. Yeah, we're starting them earlier, but the test scores aren't improving. You know what? Our educational system is archaic. Corraling thirty kids, all at different levels of development, into a room and then throwing the same concepts at everyone and expecting everyone to achieve just doesn't make sense. Everyone learns at a different pace. Everyone has different aptitudes. You know what happens when your more advanced kids get done with the work that your general classroom population is still working on? Bored kids and wasted class time. On the flip side, if you move through the material at the pace of the more advanced kids your general population gets discouraged and lost. You could always give the advanced kids more work when they get finished so they'll have something to do. But we all know what that trains a kid to do...work slower. Why work your hardest when you are going to get rewarded with busy work until the rest of the class catches up with you? It's like in Office Space, work harder more TPS reports. Then you end up playing Tetris all day at your desk and you eventually burn down Initech.

Where you been?

2010 Lady Lancers Basketball Team after defeating rival Keswick 39-36 in the Regional Semi Finals.

Another basketball season ends with the Lady Lancers of Cambridge Christian School(Tampa) earning a trip to the Regional Championship game for the second year in a row. Unfortunately, we were unable to win but we were thankful to again be one of the top 8 1A girl's hoops teams in the state of Florida.

This year, more than any other, tested the team. From losing our starting senior forward and leading rebounder to a knee injury to playing sick and injured, to having to play our last six games of the playoffs on the road it was a true test of our team's character and resilience.

Here are some pics of the Regional Quarter Finals against First Baptist Academy of Naples a 44-38 win for the Lancers. naplesnews.com does a wonderful job of covering their prep. sports. Very impressive site.


#24 Chachere M. Adding to her double-double


#4 Susan B. aka "Suuuuzzzzeeee" going to the rack.


Cassy P., O, CB, and Lex. celebrating the win.

Next came the Regional Semis against our rival across the Bay, Keswick. They beat us during the regular season at home pretty handily and edged us for the District Championship 42-47 but that night saw 22-6 half time lead for Keswick evaporate into a 34-34 tie in the fourth quarter after a 3-Point bucket by #21 Rachel B. Seen here flying to the hole for two.



With the score tied at 36 after made free-throws by both teams, Rachel brought the ball up the floor with only ten seconds left in the game. She was hounded by the Keswick "D" who were trying desperately to keep her out of the paint. With time winding down Rachel rifled a pass to Chach who buried a 3 with 1.5 seconds left on the clock sealing the win. It was a huge shot and an amazing moment.

The Regional Finals found us matched up against the number one team in the state, Trinity Christian who last year beat a team in the Regional Tournament 111-25. We lost handily (75-38) as turnovers and foul trouble plagued us most of the night.

We give God all the glory for another remarkable season and thank all those who supported us and gave of their time and resources to make our season a success.

And that's where I've been.

"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;" II Corinthians 4:8,9

Blog Neglect

Been neglecting the old blog.

Avatar: Great movie
The Gathering Storm: Great Book
Christmas Break: Great Holiday

Way to hard to blog from my phone but I wanted to try it.

Excerpt

Honestly, this is what I've been doing with most of my time outside of work. This is the beginning of what is currently designated "Chapter III" though that is subject to change (and probably will be changed). I'm planning on being in Michigan later this month and I will bring what I have done then.


III

“Is this your home world?” Nisla asked.

“Yes,” I replied, “in the hills above the Wolfwood.” We sat together atop a mossy boulder jutting from the gently sloping hillside. Tall pines crowded around us and the forest floor was a soft carpet of long needles. It was a misty summer morning and below us in the valley smoke wafted lazily from the chimneys of a dozen log houses to mingle with fog rolling down from the mountains. A herd of spearhorn, sleek in their brown summer coats, browsed around us lowing contentedly as they plucked needles and cones from the wiry pine branches with their long tongues.

“It is beautiful.” She sighed and snuggled up under my arm. I tensed at her nearness. “What is it?”

I stared off at the distant mountains. The earthy smell of the spearhorn mixed with the pungent sweetness of the pine needles and I felt the sharp pangs of homesickness. “Who is your master?”

“It doesn’t matter. I am relieved of my debt to him. I swore to bring you to him or die in the attempt. Since I died my oath is fulfilled.”

I smiled. “Clever of you to die like that.”

She wrapped her slender arms around me and laid her head against my chest. My heart quickened its pace. “I am clever, pehaps too clever. Have you experienced any symptoms of the overwrite?”

“Not that I’ve noticed. Perhaps my mind is stronger than you thought.”

“I doubt that,” she replied with a wry smile then grew serious. “Look.” She pointed to the sky above the village where a large winged creature soared high above the sharply peaked roofs. “Do you know what that is?” I held my hand to my eyes to reduce the glare from the rising sun and quickly lowered it. In my dreams I could simply tell myself that the glare was gone and it would cease to exist.

The creature looked like a giant cross between a lizard and a hawk. Glossy, black feathers covered its body save for its scaly, rust colored head and legs. Hooked talons tipped the creature’s three toed feet and a feathery “v” shaped tail tilted like a rudder as it sailed over the trees.

“No, I’ve never seen such a creature.”

“It is a drake-hawk, specifically my drake-hawk, Ti’krek. I hatched her and raised her from a fledgling. She was killed in a storm many years ago.” Nisla pulled away and turned her attention to smoothing the wrinkles from her hunting trousers. “Already my memories are invading your dreams. Soon they will affect your conscious thoughts. You must find me a new body.”

Septumble

-My life is so full of school right now that it seems like I have about a half an hour between the time I get home and the time I go to bed.

-Writing is hit and miss which is not good.

-College football makes my heart sing, so there is that.

-Michigan plays Notre Dame this weekend. Go Blue! Definitely looking forward to that.

-I haven't been doing much but work. I don't read much these days. If I have spare time I write. I guess that counts as reading since I'm reading what I am typing. Ok, maybe not.

-Right now all I can think of is 'tired' and 'it feels really good to sit down'. Probably not the best time to blog. But I've been under a lot of blogging pressure lately and then Angie's crack about the month of August being over...=p

-Let me do a quick "First Glance" of the University of Michigan Football Team

-Freshman QB's: Overachieved. Impressive Big House debut for Forcier and Robinson. Forcier's poise was encouraging and Robinson's 43 yard TD run was amazing. His speed from a standing stop was jaw-dropping.

-Recievers: Hello there Junior Hemingway, nice catches. What's that? You had five catches for 103 yards and two touchdowns? Nice. Also, love Kevin Koger's hands. He had some moments last year at TE. Look for more of the same this year.

-The Running Game: Hopefully Brandon Minor can join Carlos Brown in the backfield this Saturday and keep the QB's from hogging all the ground gains.

-Defense: Fast, strong and aggressive. Looked great, played great. Nearly earned that hoped for shut out. Graham and Ezeh are stalwarts at DE and LB respectively and true Freshman Craig Roh looked good in his first outing. I also have to give a shout out to Donovan Warren the Junior CB who will have to shut down those Irish recievers on Saturday.

-Heh, Irish Reciever, sounds like an expensive hunting dog.

-BYE

August Rush

-It's almost over. Or is it about to begin?

-I am concerned that I will not be able to keep up the quality/quantity of my writing during the school year. It takes a lot of time. I wrote for 2.5 hours today and I feel like I barely did anything manuscript wise.

-I also learned this summer that I cannot write all day or for very long really. You can't write for 8 hours like a normal job. For me, quality takes a nose dive after about the 3.5 hour mark. I found if I kept it to 2.5-3 hours per day I was hungry to get at it again the next day and I didn't have to revise as much.

-Cliches are evil. I try to weed them out by not going with my first impulse for an idea. "Wait, what if the antagonist is really the protagonist's father...ah, nevermind."

-I haven't been reading as much as I thought I would be this summer. Well, reading other authors that is. Been reading a lot actually.

-The new Harry Potter was good. I think they get better every time. Or maybe I can't remember the last one by the time the new one comes out.

-Speaking of father-son cliches, William is trying to start a little Rebellion of his own against my already established housewide Empire. I had to use the force against his bottom a few times lately.

-Need capital to start t-shirt company already have text for first shirt planned: "Excuse Me I Just Tweeted." Oh, look out Twitter users! That's my idea btw and I will sue anyone who attempts to steal it. Also in the wings: "Does Your Facebook Hurt?" on the front "'Cause it's Killin' Me!" on the back. BAM!

-The graphics for Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec have not aged well. I found myself squinting at a wall of pixels trying to make out if there was a curve coming up. I still love my PS2.

-One more: "OBAMAMA JEANS: Stylish Enough For Your Mom, But Made For A President." Cause remember when the President threw out the first pitch at the All Star Game? And he wore those jeans? "Mom jeans". Uh huh, I'm stickin' it to the man. Or am I the man?

-Please do not send this blog post to the White House under the heading "fishy e-mails" Thanks.

Scouting

Lately I've felt like an NBA scout. In between daddy day-care and writing I've been scouring the interwebs to help make the Detroit Pistons a better team in 09-10. Here's a couple of theories.

1. The Pistons have made their Free Agent splash and are done signing impact players.

It's possible that Joe D. really will hearken back to the Bad Boy days when he Isaiah and Vinnie Johnson were running things on the perimeter. Stuckey and Rip starting and Will and Ben G. coming off the bench does sound dynamic and pretty much all the guards are interchangeable so there's a lot of flexibility in the back court. But it's the front court that is woefully thin. Barring the Pistons signing another big Kwame and Max would have to split time at center (Kwame playing against the Dwight Howard's and Shaq's and Max playing against smaller line ups)and the rookies would have to play a lot of minutes (not necessarily a bad thing if they can produce). And where does Arron Afflalo fit in? Are the Pistons really picking up Deron Washington? Isn't he another G/F that adds to the logjam in the back court? I can't help but think that Joe isn't quite done. I can't imagine that he would start the season with Kwame and Max as his centers. He seems to be biding his time, waiting for the right deal with the right player. But how long can he afford to wait?

2. The Pistons are going to trade Rip and/or Arron and/or Walter Sharpe for a decent post player.

I was sold on the Rip Hamilton for Carlos Boozer trade when the Pistons picked up Gordon, but there are pros and cons to consider.

Pro. Detroit needs a low post presence and Boozer seems to fit the bill. Also, there isn't enough time in a game for Detroit to play all their guards substantial minutes.

Con. Boozer seems to get hurt a lot and there are nagging character questions. Not to mention we just signed a PF so Boozer would probably have to play the 5.

Pro. Boozer's contract comes off the books after this year giving Detroit financial flexibility in 2010. Rip has four years left on his deal.

Con. Boozer is reportedly not much of a defender while Rip is very good in stretches. Also, Rip has championship experience while Boozer has only "I came off the bench in the Olympics" experience which the Pistons already have with Tay.

So, as you can see, it's three Cons to two Pros against the trade. Arron and Walter on the other hand I could very easily see getting shipped for a serviceable big. Which is a little sad because AA is one of Detroit's best on-ball defenders. And he can guard three positions.

So we wait. But while we wait here's three keys to success for next season.

1. Stuckey

Flat out Stuckey. Does he have a consistent jumper? Has his defense improved? OK, let's stop right there. If Stuckey can consistently hit that mid-range jumper, mix in a respectable three point percentage (over 30% is doable) and play pressure defense then Detroit will have a much better year. The guy is fearless going to the rack, he's big, he's strong, he's got a good attitude. His point guard skills will come with experience, ask Billups.

2. The Rooks

Can any of these guys make an impact his season? From what I hear Jerebko is the most ready and at reportedly 6'10" 231 lbs. he can play either forward spot. He has been described as tough and versatile, sounds good. Summers and Daye are intriguing. Daye is skilled but physically lacking, Summers looks like he's ready physically and apparently is a shooter. But how is his rebounding? Does he have a post game at 6'8" 240? Ideally all three of these guys (and a greatly improved Deron Washington) will be able to contribute right away.

3. Coach K

I like him. I watched his induction and he seemed like a stand-up guy who knew what he was talking about. He's got experience. He's been on some pretty good teams ('04 Pistons World Champions) and he seems like a good fit. There is definitely going to be some pressure because he's in Detroit and Pistons fans think if you don't win the Central and at least make the ECF then you better refund your salary and get out of town. But what can I say, the bar has been set pretty high. Anyway, good luck Coach. We'll be praying for you.