on number one, owls and the street

its so nice out and last week had a nice scavanger hunt and orienteering in the same event.

I started before everyone elsesince i couldnt stay long, which was better since i dont see other runners and it feels more like a solo effort.

I have been to North chagrin park many times but that day i got to see areas i never visited. i wore my ankle brace which was no longer swollen but still a bit tender but not being active for 2 weeks is two much is too much. I headed for the woods and made my way through the check points, the orienteering part was not hard. with many check points the thing it opitmal course to get as many as possible. this was part scavenger hunt and some of the tasks including finding things like nuts, feathers, acorns and specific flowers types which i was not familiar with. the acorn was easy, lots of them in the woods, the feather was too hard, didnt see one, the horse was taken from a trail for horses sign, lots of things to find and point to go and as i kept going i sped up and started to jog parts of the way. i actualy made over 75% of the check points and over half of the items to find. one point was on a view point over the steep ravine and the next point was on the other side forcing me to get on my but to get down the steep hill, i wouldnt risk my leg on that angle. there were many birds chirping but no feathers in sight to collect- some tasks required counting steps from both side of a bridge or taking a photo of a specific place which is unique and i liked it, but i liked the most that i could run. close to the end i was getting tired and then spotted something in the corner of my eye, looked up and saw a huge barn owl. perhaps it was a regular size barn owl, never seen one in nature before. i saw it from behind, took a photo, then slowly walked to the other side of the tree, i stared it it for a while, it stared at me, but i think it wanted a nap , i left it alone and it didnt fly away, i didnt have such encounter since the kuala in 2001.

since i started before everyone i finished before everyone (since it was a timed event) , so i dont know what my over all position was, i was told my score was enough to win the same event the year before so i feel good.

 

this week we had to do a presentation in my ethics class. worth 35% of the grade so i prepared alot with 3 other students. there are 2 presentations day and i wanted the 1st day since the 2nd (next week) is on my birthday, hint hint. but it was a raffle. the teacher gave us cards to chose and that led to the order of choosing from a 2nd pile , i was 4th in line, the other 3 picked the 2nd day (you didnt really pick , you just picked a note and that was your order) and i was lucky to pick the 1st on the 1st day. 1st is better since we get rid of it first, and we have to listen to the other groups since one random lecture will be on the test, so if you are first, you can relax and listen to the rest instead of bening nervous.

I went 1st in my group for a 4 minutes speech about demolishing homes. i hate presentations since i get so nervous before them. i had to pee out of nerves at 5:30, at 5:55 i wnt again and by presentation time at 6:15 i had to go again but couldnt, my legs were shaking, i though i would fall, but i reheresed alot and i did well. but the thing is that for the next presentation , in 2 weeks i will be again super nervous.

 

the weekend is here once more...

 

enjoy photos of our street in its most beautifull week of the year

 

 

You are invited to view gil.even's photo album: 2012-04-19 our house in the middle of our street 2012-04-19 our house in the middle of our street Apr 19, 2012 by gil.even View Album Play slideshow If you are having problems viewing this email, copy and paste the following into your browser: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=gil.even&target=ALBUM&id=5733673681220882977&authkey=Gv1sRgCN7grbTn7tKWswE&feat=email To share your photos or receive notification when your friends share photos, get your own free Picasa Web Albums account.

what color goes with Birch and the importance of names

Spencer Robinson is answer B in question 12 in case you ever take this test. this happens to be the name of my finance teacher who actually asked what is his name on the test! i laughed during the test when I saw that, his attempt to boost up the average. well yesterday the results came in, he shows the results on screen (without names) for all to see and its obvious that the class did poorer than the first test. the teacher then says there he took one grade of the average, there was one 0. as soon as he says that i know its me, why me? no one is a "talented" as I in stupid mistakes, 2 seconds later he mentions my name, and I realized that I forgot to write my name on the test, idiot me. 2 minutes of dread passed by till he handed everyone's tests back and I got my 94, 5th in the class. best grades in my life so far!

we finally got a bike for Alla, black all over with pink water bottle holder, so today we went to try them out. our house is kind of on a hilltop , no matter where you go, its down, which is fun going there, and Alla went to the worst decent, for about 10 minutes we are zooming down the hill, with the wind penetrating through the jacket and its fun, but I know what awaits us on the way back... so much up hill, not a long ride due to the impending darkness but nice 8k and aching muscles. last week i rode to Beachwood to see a soccer game, 14 K, faster pace but without a crazy hill, but instead several ADD hills, it feels great to ride, its the one sport that cannot easily injure me.

oh, as you may recall, last year I wrote I had no injury... nice jinx Gil, well the very next day after the previous blog i went to play racket ball , a new sport for me. played for about 30 minutes and was winning against a colleague when the left ankle decided to buckle with a sprain. arghhhhhhh , I was sprain free since November 2009, 1 minute of level 10 pain, followed by level 1-2 for 10 days...and I was just returning to tennis shape. there fore biking is so good, the only thing i can do now other then swimming. so my new year began on the right foot, because the left is swollen. now , 2 weeks later, its no more swollen, so perhaps I will try to injure myself again this weekend, Ultimate Frisbee, great sport.

with the amazing spring we are having and after a visit to friends house which looks really nice and many things came from Ikea, my better designer half is on the shopping crave for a dining room table. I don't see the point since it is usually covered with a table cloth, but i know that i don't understand that i don't understand, or perhaps i do understand that i don't understand, well anyway, a table is never enough, it needs accessories , can i remind you about the table cloth hiding the table? , chairs, random things to put on the walls, light things, silverware, vases and worse of all new paint to go with a possible table made of birch. So the question is, what color goes with Birch, what color is Birch? this stuff is beyond my capacity, lucky that Ikea is over 2 hours away...

cheers and enjoy spring, I know I am.

oh, important discovery was mat this week by Matt Gronning  the creator of the Simpsons. after years of clues, the real Springfield has been revealed and it is the one in Oregon. I have been to Oregon but not to that Springfield. another location was just added to my top 10 places to go... by by Mongolia...off the list.