Category: Winter 2013

Melinda & I just got back from the monthly PSCS Board meeting. Considering I’ve been going to bed about this time every night for the last couple of weeks after already having had a couple hours of down time after school, I’m really tired. It’s amazing to me how long it is taking me to fully recover from the flu.

I suppose another factor is how busy I’ve been administratively at school. It’s re-enrollment and admissions season for us, meaning there’s a lot to do.

Anyway, you’ll have to deal with this brief post and this photo that I just took seconds ago with PhotoBooth. 🙂

As many of you know, Chloe attends Quest University in Canada and is linked there with longtime boyfriend, Alex. Alex is also a 2010 graduate of PSCS. His parents, Deb & Peter, recently relocated to Japan as part of Peter’s work with Costco.

Anyway, Deb is visiting from Japan and dropped by PSCS last Thursday to say hi. She picked up a few things Melinda had set aside for Chloe, and then took off for Quest to see Alex & Chloe. Today she sent Melinda and me a couple of pictures from her visit.

It looks like they had some good weather there in British Columbia. Thanks for the photos, Deb!!

A while back I made the acquaintance with a person who goes by the online name of Fish Astronaut. I found his website and liked his simple drawings. I asked if he might be willing to provide illustrations for one of my online kindness classes. To my utter delight, he jumped at the chance.

Since then, he’s provided me several dozen drawings for my various kindness classes over the last couple of years. I’ve passed on a few bucks to him, some of the money people have donated to Melinda and me for providing kindness classes.

I was pleased today when I received an email from Fish with today’s blog photo, one wishing me good health after my recent bout with the flu and ongoing cough.

Thanks, Fish!

Ella, Melinda & I finally saw the new Les Misérables movie today. It’s been on our To-do list since it came out on Christmas Day but a lot of things kept us from attending. It kind of dawned on all of us together early in the afternoon that we were free today.

We enjoyed it a lot, I can say. The book is one of my all-time favorites and Ella has long enjoyed many of the songs from the Broadway musical. We walked out of the theater with plans for me to read the book aloud to her. That will be fun.

If you haven’t seen it, the last main scene, when Marius and Cosette come to find Jean Valjean slipping away, is quite the tearjerker. Consider that your only spoiler from me.

Man, that Victor Hugo thought up a pretty good story.

Ella was on school-approved independent study today, each Friday during winter term going up to the mountains to ski with Melinda and her grandparents. For Ella, this means she missed the on campus opportunity to make macarons.

You know about macarons, right? The delicious French sweet treat made of egg whites, sugar and various flavorings.

Anyway, Ella’s friend Chloe (not her sister) made her a couple and sent them home with me. I’m not saying she made three for Ella, no. There were only two on this plate that I brought home, along with the to-the-point note. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Years and years ago, I recall having a cold. But I was invited to a party and really thought it would be fun to go. My friend who invited me (I mentioned him here before – his name is Kevin and he holds much responsibility for Melinda and me meeting) promised to make me a Nyquil cocktail. I don’t recall all of what he put in it, but I remember it was green and had a licorice kind of taste.

That may be all I remember about that party.

So here I am, coming up on two weeks since I started to feel sick. My fever has been gone for a week but my cough persists. What helps? A little Nyquil at night.

Several years ago Melinda and I added the costs of a regular house cleaner to our monthly budget. We realized that if we tightened in other areas, we could afford it. Now, twice a month, we have someone come in who changes our sheets, cleans our bathrooms & kitchen, and mops & vacuums the floors.

As the years have gone we realized that having a house cleaner is the best marriage counseling we could have. With the house clean, we are less likely to get into one of those pesky marital arguments that, really, at its root, is about someone not cleaning up. So we get the results of couples counseling AND a clean house. Nice!

To illustrate today’s post I’m using a photo I took from Melinda’s and my Happy Hour excursion last night, another form of counseling, perhaps.

I’m in the midst of facilitating my most popular online kindness class, the Practice of Kindness. It’s week 4 of the 10 week class and the theme this week is to do something kind for an acquaintance. Each Tuesday I sent out a link intending to provide the class participants a little inspiration around the current week’s theme. Today I sent out a little essay I wrote. I’m proud of it and encourage you to take a look.

The essay is called “Links in a Chain” and in it I refer to each of us as a link. The chain is humanity. I suggest that we have great impact on the chain, more so to those closest to us.

What good thing can you do as soon as you get up from reading this post?

Dan Gillmore, this post is for you.

Back in 1975, I was a high bidder on an original 1955 Topps hockey card of Lorne “Gump” Worsley, one a lot like what I’ve used as today’s photo. I was 12 years-old and I bid on the card through a magazine of sports auctions called “The Trader Speaks.” I was first going to bid $1.00 but my brothers, who were helping me, said that’s what other interested bidders would think and suggested I bid $1.01. But then they said that $1.01 was what other bidders would think so they said I should bid $1.02. This went on and on until I finally settled on my bid, $1.12.

I won the auction, my first as a hockey card collector.

On eBay over the weekend I saw that a reprint of that card was up for auction. I got it today for 99 cents. So while my original from 1955 was long ago sold and used to help finance Melinda’s and my first house, I’ll soon have a reprint. Maybe I’ll use it as a bookmark. Certainly it’s part of a great story.

I decided to pretend I was perfectly well this morning and went for a 30 minute jog, my first run in two weeks. 9 hours later, I’m coughing more than I was yesterday, although I admit getting the fresh air did a world of good for my disposition.

To ease my coughing consternation, I located a link that is allowing me to watch tonight’s Vancouver Canucks hockey game. Nothing like a hockey game to cure what ails you, right? Too bad the Canucks fell behind by two goals in the first five minutes…

Still, I’m reminded of one of my favorite nights from the sabbatical, one I dubbed Hockey Night in France. That recollection is also good for what ails me.