Heading to Baseball

It's Friday and I am heading to baseball!

What a great thing. If the rain will hold off and the train will hurry to station and the traffic will cooperate I will be watching my son Steve play baseball for the first time this year. What a great and wonderful thing!

I was able to get to the train station to make an early enough train to be able to see him play his first game with his JV team at Princeton High School.

I'll report more later but need to close now to prepare to sprint to the car and head to the field. Happy weekend everyone!

6:45 AM - Report of the game from the following day

To continue, was first to the car, traffic cooperated, the evening was beautiful, and I made it to the Princeton Valley Road field in time to see Steve make the last defensive out of the 2nd inning. He made a play at 3rd base which he later recapped as "the ball hit my foot and kind of stuck so I picked it up and ran three steps to 3rd for the force-out." On thing I love about Steve is his ability to understate (rather than over-dramatize). Another is that he truly does understand the game of baseball and can make the right play from just about any position. Most young people get programmed in to a specific position and have trouble adapting to others.

The timing was perfect for my arrival as I got to see him bat in the bottom of the 2nd inning, and although it was a grounder back to the pitcher, it was an at bat that I got to see. Also, he was then able to spend the remainder of the inning warming up for going in to pitch the following inning.

He ended up pitching three solid innings, allowing no runs, no hits, no base-runners, nothing even out of the infield and most hit balls coming back to him for easy put-outs to first base. It was a typical outing for when Steve is throwing strong in that he had hitters off balance, swinging behind his fastball, or pounding the ball into the ground for easily fielded balls by the infielders. He also rung up 3 batters with strike outs.

The PHS JV team ended up winning the game 3-2 with the game going 6 innings and then time ran out. Steve was fortunate to be able to pitch 3 innings this early in the season but his work through February at pitching lessons enabled him to do that with ease. It helps that his pitch count is always low, yesterday he threw only about 30-35 pitches in his three innings. First pitch strike, getting ahead of the hitter, and always being around the strike zone has been Steve's hallmark from since he was 8 years old. A great example was when he got behind a hitter with a 3-1 count and battled back to get the out.

In all, a great 1st outing for Steve to chalk up a win and to build from. His coach talked to me during the game and expects that Steve will be the ace of the JV squad. That is good because I think he will get more play time and have more positive experiences with that coach and team rather than moving up to Varsity too quickly. Maybe he can earn his way up to Varsity for special games when the JV don't play. That is what happened last year between the Freshman team and JV.

Well, that is it for this report. Once again I am glad for having retired from coaching so I can be a full time fan of Steve (and Dan, too). Of course there is the little one on the way up but right now he is only 4).

Tales from the Train - Riding the Train from NYC to Hamilton

I downloaded and activated my Journal software on the new laptop and configured to be able to automatically post to my blog. It is a great thing to combine journaling with blogging as often my blog is like a journal. At least until people start weighing-in on various subjects with comments and opinions.

I don't know if I can use The Journal as a full-featured blog editing tool but I will experiment with the functions that I find most useful. For anyone interested in this software you can locate it at http://www.davidrm.com/thejournal . People may have better software for journaling, particularly within the aspect of online journaling or blogging but this one seems fairly full-featured with what I want it to do.

I like the aspect of it being secure and private, even though I am posting this entry as a blog-article. If anyone know of or has a recommendation for true online journaling software with public view capability as well as private, be sure and let me know.

It is Thursday and I am riding the train from NYC to Hamilton, NJ. I have been liking the 5:30 express train that only stops in Newark Penn Station, Princeton Junction, and Hamilton. It seems to make it out of the city before things get overly congested traffic-wise or overly full people-wise. For a long time I was taking the 6:03 but in addition to it being a busier train, it is normally one of the old types. This 5:30 express is one of the new double-decker trains being operated on the northeast corridor by NJ Transit. A very nice ride for commuting to NYC every weekday.

I was also checking the Chestnut Hill College website for a report of the baseball team's progress through spring training in Florida. Dan has been calling me or text messaging daily with updates but I wanted to check to see his overall stats. It seems his hitting has been doing very good averaging over .500 so I couldn't ask for a better start to his first college season. The Griffins aren't doing all that good as a team with a pre-season record of about 1-6 but Dan is off to a great start.

It is a nice pre-spring day in central NJ and I can't wait for the temps to warm up for actual spring. Steve starts his spring baseball season tomorrow and I can't wait to see him in his games. He indicated he will be playing short stop and will pitch one inning in the first scrimmage tomorrow. I would love to be there to see him but have a budget meeting in the afternoon. Maybe God will smile and make the meeting not happen.

As I write this and prepare to send it to my blog-site, I am reminded about how I began blogging using my Blackberry and Treo. At that time, the Tales from the Train series was much more difficult to write seeing as how I was punching the keys with my thumbs. On this laptop (Dell Latitude D430) I have an almost full sized keyboard and can keyboard much better. Of course one of the good things at least from a reader's perspective was that my articles were fairly short as it was so hard to type on the mobile devices.

I am enjoying this new computer and praise Scott for taking the care to set it up the way he did. It is a smaller and lighter laptop and is easier to pull out quickly and get something written. The other one was just too cumbersome to want to whip out and use during a normal commute. I am working to keep things better organized on this computer and am using various online tools including BaseCamp and Sakai to store things better. I have really enjoyed learning to use Sakai and bringing forward the ideas for a system that incorporates collaborative tools including blogs, wikis, file repository, podcast library, and discussion board. It will do more but those are the main things I have been using for my collaborative system needs.

Well, that is enough for this entry and I will end this to attempt to send it to the blog. I did a test yesterday and it seemed to work fine but we'll see. Have a great evening, everyone. David

Nolan Ryan Plaque from MBL Hall of Fame

This is the plaque for Nolan Ryan in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Linda and I went there for my birthday in 2007 and of course I had to search out the items for my favorite baseball player.

One interesting aspect is the photo of past and future stars which had Roger Clemens in the foreground and Nolan Ryan in the background. I wonder now if the Rocket will make it into the Hall.

I hope they take his record into account prior to "alleged" steroid and HGH use. One could argue that he shouldn't get into the Hall at all as penalty for the charges against him but it seems that rampant performance enhancing drug use was part of the history of the 80's and 90's. Keeping Roger out might send the message to others but I am sure there will be some inductees that did the same thing.

Nolan is untainted as far as I know so here is my tribute to the "Ryan Express."

So much for bucking peer pressure

A parent always cringes about those late night phone calls, and now text messaged photos from the offspring. Here was a recent entry from #1 son. It looks like the baseball team binding ritual scored another victim.

My reply to him was that he is only young and foolish once so he should make the most of it. I didn't have the heart to tell him there will be a time when it may not grow back. For now, he is living large.

Steve and his pitching coach Wild Bill.

GQ Steve

This is Steve before the Princeton Sophomore Cotillion. He is indeed looking very dapper in charcoal grey suit with maroon pinstripes, maroon shirt, and patterned silk tie. I was not allowed beyond the parking lot but I heard that he had a good time at the big social event.

Think, Hope, or Believe

I was asked recently if I think a highly desired outcome would happen. The question got me thinking about the subject of thought (reasoning), hope (wish), and belief (confidence) and which is the best predictor or preparation for an outcome.

As an optimist by nature I tend to believe in positive outcomes, particularly in matters involving right and wrong, or good or evil. I'm built that way. I read somewhere recently that people with even an unrealistic positive view tend to be right more often in part because they influence the outcome in that direction. Positivity creates good results because it influences people to those ends.

I also admit that I have never understood negative people or skeptics. Who would want to live expecting the worst in all things and situations?

Next there is rational thought to assess the likely outcome. That is an equally tricky one in that it is based on knowing all the possible variables and having a large amount of experience to determine the results.

To be continued...

2008 New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year 2008! I saw the Waterford crystal ball drop in Times Square albeit on TV and after waking up from a food-induced nap. I must be getting old because I think I then went to bed at about 12:15 AM. No celebrating for me last night. The dinner of King Crab Legs and Steak that Linda and I made pretty much assured I wouldn't be light on my feet for dancing away the night. I have to ask, how good is clarified butter (OMG!)

This is the day for setting forth the resolutions that will guide me through the new year. Of course I want to make this year different, better, and more special than any previous year and supposedly that begins with resolutions to make some changes, to do things differently, and to improve certain things. No blaming problems on others for me.

The problem is, where do I begin? Maybe categories for resolutions is the right place to start. Making sure not to be overly ambitious would help promote success. How about the following resolution categories:

• family
• work
• personal
• community
• society

Of course each of these could break into other sub-categories but I will resist getting overly optimistic. After all, having a few resolutions that I accomplish would be better than having many that don't last through the month of January.

I'll start with this set of categories and create a few specific resolutions within each. More to follow but for now I need to go help with breakfast... (to be continued)

Found a Studebaker at Morningside Campus

I found this little toy Studebaker at the Morningside campus of Columbia University while leaving work today. The significance is that people who are moving to the renovated Studebaker Building on the new Manhattanville campus in West Harlem are being given the little toy cars so I wonder if it was from one of those folk.

It's cute little car with a hood that opens revealing an engine replica. I think the car modeled is from the 1950's but am not that familiar with the model line. It was an interesting find since I am soon taking an office in the Studebaker Building myself, although I will split time between that and my office in 201 Philosophy. The model that is appropriate for that location is the Thinker as that sculpture sits outside the campus entrance to the building.

I was thinking to myself that I find many things by looking at the ground in front of me, although I also tend to peer into the future.

Tales from the Train - Training to Work on Sunday

It's been a while since I went to work on a weekend. Normally 5 days a week is plenty for my four hour round trip commute. I wanted to take Friday off so as to be at the J-Street home for the long-awaited arrival of the kitchen countertop so I chose to defer coming to work until Sunday morning.

I didn't get up as early as I had hoped and so am taking an 8:40 semi-express to NYC. I should have thought about the day-trippers that would be going to the city at this time. The train is now full but luckily I have avoided the interlocking knee situation.

Today is Sunday, December 30, and I need to get my office organized and cleaned-up for the new year. I am going to work to be more paperless in 2008, planning to get a scanner so as to digitize notes and non-electronic documents. I also need to work out an online file and document storage approach that will work for easy access and good organization of information. I am undecided whether to use a shared drive on the Columbia server, the personal workspace feature on Sakai, or some other online file storage approach.

Well, it looks like with the number of people getting on the train at Metropark I need to close now. More later...

Whew, I dodged the bullet on that one. I think people were trying to get the front of the train as an announcement sent people to the rear of the train where there are rumored to be plenty of seats available. A strange commuting phenomenon is that people will cram themselves together at the front of the train to save walking an extra 100 feet at the station. I guess that is similar to how people cluster in parking lots waiting to get a close in spot even though the walk from farther out would be mere minutes. People...

Well, it is two days until 2008 so I have to figure out how I am going to make this year different (and better) than any other. I suppose a good blog post for tomorrow would be my new year's resolutions so I can state them for the record with hopes of accomplishing them. I will give that thought the remainder of the day and come up with a good but manageble list. I hope others do the same.

Enjoy the final days of 2007 and I wish you a wonderful and special new year. Make it so!

The Desk I Want

This is a photo of the desk I wanted but did not move quickly enough. It was for sale at the Bombay store at Princeton Market Fair but you can see the sales tag at the upper left corner of the desk. I had seen it two days before at 50% off the original price but with holiday shopping I passed it up. The lucky person who bought it paid a little over $400 for this very nice desk.

I like it because it does not have the typical pedestals of drawers on either side. I like the airy look to it. It combines well my desire to be more paperless in the future and my interest in having something like a writer's desk.

If anyone knows of something similar please clue me in. Until then, the lesson of not moving quickly enough when you see the right thing has been well-learned once again.

Tales from the Train - Campus Technology Conference

So I blogged some the important things about my recent trip to San Francisco like the journey to the Golden Gate Bridge, Linda and Vincent on Lombard Street, swans, and biscuits and gravy, but I didn't put anything about the reason I went there in the first place.

I went to attend a winter conference for IT leaders in higher education that was sponsored by Campus Technology magazine. It was advertised as an immersive workshop in various areas important for leaders of IT in the higher education industry.

The immersive part was true in that the participants chose 2 daily tracks (out of 8 possibles) and each of the first two days was spent immersed in that subject.

I chose Social Collaboration in Teaching and Learning and Technology in Successful Learning Spaces. Both offered good exploration of areas that are important within my new job role.

The Social Collaboration session provided a good look at the millennial generation and how they differ in their learning styles and overall expectations. There was a great video provided through YouTube that I must locate and link here. The session explored the various offerings for incorporating social collaboration technologies into several institutions with varying approaches.

Duke highlighted their launch of the I-Pod and what cascaded from that starting point. The University of Santa Clara highlighted their support for the variety of Web 2.0 technologies including blogs, wikis, and even Second Life where they created a virtual version (a virsion?) Of their new Learning Commons library that was under construction.

The second day was another good immersion into how to incorporate technology and planning and aesthetics to make great formal and informal learning spaces.

To be continued...