Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Class Valedictorian


Class Valedictorian
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.
Well, it's official. After a couple of months of speculation, Markus was awarded the South Kitsap Valedictorian Award at the Laurels Award Ceremony tonight. We are very proud of his commitment and hard work. Considering that his class is over 600, it was quite an accomplishment! Good job, Markus.

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Bjorn's new workplace


Bjorn's new workplace
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.
After a week or so of emailing resume's to no avail, Bjorn took his mom's advice and showed his innocent face to a couple of job possibilities. Well, it worked; and he got a job at the second place he went. He started the next day, and has worked a week. It's an indefinite arrangement so far, but they seem to really like him. The company is called 'Masterworks', and it is a graphics/advertisement company that does contracts with different Christian ministries. Bjorn helps the IT person with all of the computer and software stuff. The graphic artists all use Macs, so Bjorn is kind of the 'go to guy' for the Macs. He loves that of course. The company is in Poulsbo, so he has a little of a commute, but the Rabbit diesel keeps the cost down. We are all very thankful for this job, since it will give him experience in his chosen career.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

What's this? another mac?

I've been waiting to upgrade for almost a year. My iBook is five years old and feeling a little slow and behind the times. When the MacBook Pro came out, I was really tempted, but Bjorn urged me to be patient. I'm glad I did. This seems to be just the ticket. I was tempted to buy the black one because I've had 'snow white' for the last five years. But being a true Dutchman, I couldn't dish out the extra $150 just for the color. I upgraded the RAM to 1 gig and the hard drive to 80, so the configuration is the same as the black one. Bjorn helped me transfer the data off from my old iBook, so I am up and running. It is lightning fast compared to my old one. I am getting acquainted with the larger screen and raised keys and enjoying the new features. I have found one negative so far and that is that it gets really hot on the lap compared to my old G3 iBook. It's a good thing my child producing days are over!

Monday, May 22, 2006

Neah Bay 2006


Hobouck Beach campfire
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.
Every year Don and I take our fifth graders to Neah Bay. Once again we were very fortunate with the weather, even though it looked a little menacing. The Makah Reservation is such a beautiful place. We did our usual schedule of activities: hike to Shi Shi, museum, camp overnight and end with a hike to Cape Flattery. This year we had the added treat of having one of our families originally from Neah Bay. In fact, our student's grandfather is the president of the tribal council. They were able to arrange a great campsite that even topped our former situation. We also had a member of the tribe tell us Makah stories around our beach campfire. The presence of many parents made the work of feeding and transporting the students a lot easier. We ended up with 27 students and 15 adults. It takes some organized prep work to make this trip work, but we always feel that it is well worth it, realizing that it will be a lifelong memory for the kids. By the way, I am posting this blog with my new computer, but more about that tomorrow.

Saturday, May 13, 2006

In the water and ready to play

I had some time this week to get the boat ready for launching. Today, Bjorn and I slipped her in the drink and had a nice afternoon sail to Southworth from Manchester. It has been great having Bjorn home. He came on Monday from a week in Juneau, and will be staying home all summer. He is trying to get some kind of a summer job in computer programing. He may have to fall back on construction, but he will try for a little while to get something in his intended career field.

Sunday, May 07, 2006

A Visit From the Eides

This weekend Mike, Marti and Mikal came down from Lynden for a visit. Marika and her friend were at a horse camp at nearby Miracle Ranch, so M and M took the opportunity to visit us for the weekend. It was great hearing about their recent trip to Mexico. I also helped with the neighborhood beach clean up. Every spring, the Southworth neighborhood gets together and trims the trail to the beach and cleans up the garbage left by uninvited guests.