First Day of 2nd Grade

First day of Kindergarten

Graduating Friends

Jacqui, Zakiyah, Thea, and Wendy

Kindergarten Graduation Party

Wendy and Thea love Ms. Cassi so much. She is a good teacher - nice balance between expecting a lot from her students, but inspiring them to live up to the expectation.

Wendy, Jacqui, Thea, and Talu

I'm not exactly sure if I spelled some of these names correctly - I
think I got two of them!

Great Falls, Md

This is looking over to Virginia and upstream. Great Falls is
really...uh....well, great!

Geology class field trip

Last Saturday we climbed some rocks and learned about some other rocks.

Dam!!!!

Lunchtime!

Learning about Geology

In the neighborhood stream (Paint Branch).

Stumpjumper Gas Cruncher

In the gas crunch of the late oughts this has been getting a lot of workout (finally). My brother Chris built this bike for me and gave it to me for a Christmas present back in the early 90s. Over the many years since I have ridden it far less than I would have liked. I just never made a lifestyle for myself that gave priority to riding (or very much exersize of any kind really).

Now I ride my bike almost every day. It's my main source of transportation to and from school at the University of Maryland, and will be for the next 3 years or so....in good weather. I'm not as "burly" as my older bro, who lived in Flagstaff, AZ for many years, and for whom biking was his main transportation. Snow, blizzards, rain, or just plain cold, windy days didn't stop him from his appointed rounds.

Thanks again for the wonderful gift Chris.

Love,
todd

The Mall (at UMD)

I feel a pride at being at UMD now that i never felt at ASU when i was younger. Maybe part of it is feeling blessed by a family that supports my return to school after a youth spent doing exactly what i wanted to do. Thanks Kelly...and kids.

What's been keeping me away from blogging?

Hitting the books, that's what. I'm back in school, full time. Last time I did that was 1989-1991. For this summer, I'm doing just Math trying to get to Calculus level by the fall semester when I'll (hopefully) be enrolled in Calculus 140, Chemistry 131/132, and Environmental Geology with a lab.

It's pretty weird being in school at my age surrounded by late teeners and early tweeners, but I have met a few nice students, and a couple of nice Teaching Assistants. The work load is heavy, but it'll only get worse in the Fall, so i have to pace myself and get used to it.

I may not blog again for months...we'll see.