I just wanted to let y'all know that I'm in the middle of crazy season right now ... it's the last two weeks of school, when I'm finishing classes & school events, working on a huge DVD project, going on the 8th grade trip (Gettysburg), going on a family vacation (Wheeling), getting geared up for camp, and doing numerous administrative tasks. From this point on, my posts on webeldotnet will probably be very erratic ... summertime will be a time of rest, a time to trim some of the extra stuff and rest my brain from some of the technological. Fresh air and bright sunshine is a good thing, and every moment that I spend typing blog posts is a moment that I'm not spending deligh

Someone just sent me this ecard. Is that actually a US Seal built of fish?

"When I was growing up, my parents told me, 'Finish your dinner. People in China and India are starving.' I tell my daughters, 'Finish your homework. People in India and China are starving for your job.'"

-- Thomas Friedman, Wired, May 2005

I can't stand it when I go to type my name and miss the "n" key ...

I sometimes wonder how Samuel L. Jackson still gets hired to act.

I'm going to take a minute to brag ... about my kids, of course. Tonight we just finished up our last track meet, the MVC League Championship. Here are some juicy details:

• Both the boys and girls won the league championship (over 8 other schools). In the 15 years of recorded league history, this has never been done before. In fact, my cross country teams did it as well in the fall ... must be a good year! :)
• Tonight's win was close ... only by 13 points for the girls and by 10 points for the boys ... and we only did it by pulling some strange lineup changes. The kids trusted us coaches and stepped up all over the place, rightfully earning their titles!
• Of the 30 events in middle school track, my runners set 18 new all-time school records this year. In fact, at the championship meet today they set 10 of them!
• I'm especially proud of my high jumpers and hurdlers (those are the events I did in track). They set every possible record at our school, and the hurdlers in particular ran so well at our big Division I meets that we earned the reputation (as I was told) of being a "hurdling powerhouse".

Most importantly, however, is the character and integrity that these young men and women showed over and over. They sacrificed what they wanted for the good of the team, tirelessly encouraged each other and runners from other schools, and learned a discipline and determination that will serve them so well in the future. They won graciously and embraced each other, constantly showing a tremendous amount of respect for their coaches and an earnest desire to learn the eternal messages that God was presenting to us. I'm just delighted and honored to have been their coach!