O Say Can You See?

I got another opportunity to sing the National Anthem at a Cleveland Indians game this past Saturday, April 28th.  This was my 3rd time performing at Progressive Field, and really, it was just as exciting as the first time I did it last year on April 5.  What was interesting is that the weather was somewhat similar to my performance last April in that it was cold (43 degrees when I sang).  What made this one quite different was that I had to wait over two and a half hours for a rain delay.  As a result, what was already a pretty small crowd got even smaller as many left before the rain delay ended.

Because of the delay, I actually waited inside Progressive Field in the lower levels with the team's marketing intern in areas that most fans don't ever see unless you take the tour (which I will be doing this season!).  At first I was right inside the grounds crew entrance behind home plate, which is also where the umpires enter the field and where the mascot room is.  We waited there for maybe 20 minutes before moving to a slightly warmer and more comfortable area.  Where we ended up waiting most of the delay was right at the entrance to the Indians' clubhouse, which is right next to the entrance to the dugout suites.  There was a security station there and a TV, so it made it a tad more interesting.  Being outside the clubhouse was interesting, mostly because of who came in and out.  Not too much activity, but I did see pitcher Joe Smith, shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, and team president (and former general manager) Mark Shapiro.  I'm really not someone who gets starstruck anymore (we're all human beings in the end), but still interesting to see people like that up close.  The staff for the Indians were all very nice people too.  I really enjoyed getting to interact with them just a bit like that.

Inside Progressive Field's lower levels.  The entrance to the Indians' clubhouse is the white wall on the far left.  The ramp just beyond that is the entrance to the dugout suites and to the grounds crew area behind home plate.

Waiting to go on, about 20 minutes before I sang.  It really didn't stop raining until just a few minutes before I sang

Asdrubal Cabrera receiving his 2nd award of the day, the Silver Slugger Award.  Just before that he got an award from MLB.com.

The rain finally moved off just after 3 PM.  I sang at 3:19, just after Asdrubal Cabrera was presented with two awards behind home plate.  As you can see from the pictures below, there wasn't exactly a huge crowd around me while I sang (announced attendance was just over 11,000, though many left before the game even started).  Even so, I got a nice ovation and it's always cool to see my name on all the scoreboards!  

Last year I had the opportunity to do a 2nd game at Progressive Field, most likely because the original person scheduled wasn't able to come back when his or her game got canceled (the game I did was part of a doubleheader and was a make-up game from earlier in the season).  I'm definitely hoping I can do a second game this season too.  Now that I've sung there 3 times, all that's missing is singing when the place is full or close to full.  Two of the games so far have had very cold weather, and the game I did last September had AWESOME weather, but the Indians had fallen out of contention by then, so there was a small crowd there too (announced attendance was like 25,000 for that game, but there weren't 25,000 people there...maybe 12,000).  

There I am, just to the left of center!

Why Hello There April!

Hard to believe it's April already.  Seems like the year just started and here is is already a fourth of the way over.  I've also noticed that I haven't blogged here since early January.  Kind of like the last time I mentioned this ("Blogging Decline"), it's a combination of motivation and probably more importantly related to the fact that I have been writing in my journal a lot more these days.

Beginning on my mission, I started writing in my journal on a daily basis.  That continued through my 2-year mission and on for a few more years, finally running out in 2007.  From then I stopped writing and would sporadically write here and there, so I have these random entries for 2008-2011, sometimes just one day and other times I'd string a few days together.  Despite that I would carry my journal with me in my backpack with the intention of writing, but never did most times.  Well, during my Christmas break in Utah, I decided to try once again to get back in the habit of writing every day or at least close to that as a New Year's resolution.  So far so good.  I'm 4 months in (officially re-started on New Year's Eve) and have written pretty regularly.  The most days I've missed have been 3 in a row and then it's usually followed by a long entry summarizing what I've missed.  In March I finally bought my first new journals since 2007.  When I was writing regularly before, I would buy 2 new journals about once a year or so (when I write every day, the 204-page journal usually lasts about 2/3 of the year)

The downside of my journal writing is that it tends to suck my desire to do any other kind of writing for the day, so my blogs have largely gone neglected, mostly because I don't have much else to share or I just completely lack the desire to write.  Plus I have my history blog (which I updated recently) and my private blog (which I also updated recently).  My poor Kent Patch blog hasn't been updated in awhile too.  I have good intentions (I start blog posts and get pretty far with them), but I never seem to have the desire to finish them.  That said, I do have some plans for some new posts here, including a review of the book and movie The Blind Side that I recently saw and read (loved it!).  Downtown Kent continues to evolve as well, so I need to post some updated pictures.  I'm also hopeful to finally make this web address a central website and have the blog be its own separate page instead of the main page.

In the meantime, I'm still subbing in Kent and at Maplewood.  The school year is starting to wind down, so I am looking for work to replace subbing, and not just "summer" work either.  Of course full-time teaching is high on the list, but it is by no means exclusive.  I have applied at a few places locally and am still looking while I wait for formal replies.  I have posted my extended resume here on the site ("Resume" tab at top).  I'm looking forward to tryouts for This is Kirtland! coming up and getting started on that, plus I will be singing the National Anthem for the Cleveland Indians again on April 28 against the Angels.

Second Verse Same as the First!

I'm back using the laptop again after I had some major problems getting it to start just before I left Utah.  It would turn on, but wouldn't get past the "Welcome" screen.  It also wouldn't shut down (I left it in "shutting down" mode and came back 3 hours later and the "shutting down" screen was still up.  After running the full Checkdisk (CHKDSK), which took like 8 hours, and then startup repair, it finally opened today, though it still has some problems.  I'm hoping the problems are software related and not hardware related.  I already have Windows 7 ready to install, which I hope to do this weekend.  I was thankfully able to get all my important files copied to my desktop (and will eventually copy them again to my external hard drive), so I can start over.  All I need to do now is get the license keys for Microsoft Office programs so I can reinstall them after I add Windows 7.  My laptop is an HP Pavilion tx2000z, a tablet PC, complete with fingerprint reader and touch screen.  I got it in late May or early June 2008, just before I started grad school, so it's coming on 4 years.  My desktop (Dell) is almost 5 years old (got it March 2007) and is definitely showing its age.  All the more reason to get a better job, so I can replace them when that time comes!  While the laptop was out and I wasn't home to use the desktop, I was able to use my iPod Touch to access most of the websites I check the most.  Mobile's great and all, but not all the time, especially for typing!

Another year, another run with This is Kirtland!

My laptop problem is my first major "event" of 2012, which began for me in Utah.  It was the first New Year's for me in Utah since I spent New Year's Eve 2001 in the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah.  It was great to be out in Utah with several members of my immediate family, and to have a change in the usual routine for Christmas.  As with any change in the year, I've definitely been reflecting on the past year, as most people do.  2011 overall wasn't a whole lot different than 2010 or 2009 in terms of progress.  That's not to say that nothing good happened in 2011, but it certainly wasn't as eventful in the areas I had hoped for when I looked ahead one year ago.  In many ways I feel stuck in neutral as far as finding that first full-time job and really taking off with life.  I'm still subbing and still at the same house.  There is some hope on the horizon, though, so at this point I'm cautiously optimistic that 2012 will bring some long-awaited progress in my life!  By the end of this year, there will definitely be some changes in any event in terms of employment.  Hopefully those changes will be an improvement over the current circumstances.

Singing the national anthem for the first time at a Major League game
was a total thrill!

The three biggest events of the year for me personally happened almost a month apart and were both unexpected events, or at least somewhat unexpected.  First was my surgery on August 25 to have my gallbladder removed. I had been having abdominal pains every few months and I just attributed it to indigestion.  The days leading up to the surgery, I had very intense abdominal pains that lasted a good 2 days and eliminated my appetite, not to mention made it somewhat painful to take deep breaths.  At first, there was fear of appendicitis, but I wasn't experiencing any of the symptoms.  After seemingly recovering from the stomach pains, I got extreme abdominal pains early in the morning of August 24th, so I had Mom take me to the ER in Ravenna around 5:30 AM.  There it was determined that my gallbladder was in need of removal, so I had surgery scheduled the next day.  It was the first time I've ever checked into a hospital and stayed overnight.  The surgery went well, but the gallbladder was so swollen it was ready to burst, so rather than going laparoscopically, they had to do a traditional incision that is about 7 inches long.  I still have a nice scar from that incision and the staples that were used to close it (and were removed about 2 weeks later).  Paying the whole medical bill is an on-going process, but thankfully I have been able to make steady payments to the myriad of bills!

Pre-surgery picture.  I was in the hospital a total of 4 days and 3 nights

My next biggest surprise was the first of 2011, when the Cleveland Indians called me on March 3 (the day after my birthday) and asked me to sing the national anthem at the game April 5th.  I had been sending audition CDs to the Indians for years, so it was nice to finally hear from them.  Even better was that (in an even bigger surprise), I was asked to sing again at the September 24th game too!  Both performances were great experiences and I hope to be able to sing for the Tribe again in 2012.  I also sang for the Akron Aeros again on Good Friday.  It was fun, but very cold and wet!

 The other somewhat unexpected event of 2011 was that I got a new car.  Actually, I got 2 new cars, well, new to me.  In April, my grandparents bought a brand-new Ford Taurus and subsequently gave me their 2005 Buick LeSabre (the ultimate grandparents car!).  The biggest surprise there was that their new car was red, BRIGHT red, from two people who have owned mostly blue, green, or gray cars the last few decades (the LeSabre is gray).  I knew they had been leaning towards getting a new car, but I didn't even know they were looking until they had already bought the new Taurus.  Well, at that point I tried to sell my existing 1998 Oldsmobile 88 LS (which had a host of problems) and the LeSabre with hopes of using the money to get a newer, smaller car.  Well, I struggled to find anyone willing to buy either car, so I was resigned to just keeping the newer LeSabre and going for a newer (and smaller) car when I finally got a job.  Well, things were going well until my trip to Pennsylvania and New York in August and I ended up having to have the LeSabre shipped back to Ohio after the brake rods rusted through, which happened in New York City on the way back from JFK airport.  All that got the wheels going fast on getting a different car, one that wasn't going to completely bankrupt me by having problem after problem.  With my mom's help, we got the main problems fixed on both cars and tried to sell them on the open market, but that didn't work. The LeSabre was sold to VanDevere Buick in Akron for $7,000 and I traded the Olds in (for a whopping $700) when I got my new car at Park Honda in Akron. I ended up getting a 2008 Honda Civic EX, which so far I have absolutely loved.  It's obviously much smaller than my previous cars (major plus), has great gas mileage, and my most favorite feature is the power moonroof.  I took it on its first major trip in November (to Louisiana and back) and it did pretty well!  

First time in the new car...this was the day AFTER I sang for the Indians
and got horribly sunburned during the game!

My new car right after I brought it home!

I had my share of travels this past year, which I very much enjoyed.  My first trip was to Bowling Green, Ohio, to see Kent State play BG in men's basketball and to visit my friend Michelle.  It's always fun to visit, plus we got to see a great game (and a KSU victory)!  The interesting part of the trip to BG was that I took it during the week (Tuesday) even though I had work the next day at Roosevelt (which also happened to be my 29th birthday).  I got back to Kent around midnight and then went to work ay 7 AM.  Yeah, I was tired, but it was totally worth it.  Other travels included three trips to Nashville (March, August, and November).  The November trip to Nashville was for Thanksgiving and also included a same-day trip to and from Monroe, Louisiana, to visit a friend there.  The most adventurous trip of 2011 was the Ridinger family gathering in the Pocono Mountains of eastern Pennsylvania near the town of Bushkill at the Tree Top Villas. That included three trips into New York City, which was just under 2 hours from where we were staying.  I took a solo trip to Manhattan one day (which included parking in Manhattan for free!), the crazy trip to JFK to drop my sister's friend Natalie off at the airport (the entire trip to and from JFK took like 9 hours or something outrageous because of traffic!), and then a group trip to Manhattan with my dad, sisters, and brother-in-law.  The two sightseeing trips were tons of fun and I enjoyed where we stayed and the time we had with each other.  My other biog trip is what ended 2011: my trip to Utah to visit with my sisters, brother-in-law, and nephew for Christmas and New Years with Mom.  It was a lot of fun, plus I enjoyed being able to see a few of my old friends I don't get to see very much anymore.  Christmas with a 2-year old is rather entertaining as well!

2011 Ridinger family photo

Birthday trip to BG with Michelle!

March 5 game in Kent with Katie!

Christmas morning at Becky & David's

Nate liked the wooden train I got him (Mom found it; I financed it!)

And of course, no year would be complete without another appearance in This is Kirtland! which I did this summer for the 6th year.  2011 was my debut as Lorenzo Snow, a part I thoroughly enjoyed.

After a show, from Brenda Ebie

And lastly, I finally rejoined the Kent Historical Society in October and started putting my love of local history to work. I'm in charge of planning a 90th anniversary of the Davey school building (the original Roosevelt High School), to take place this coming September.  It's been great working with everyone at KHS and having my excitement for local history appreciated! It was enough to get me to start my newest blog, Happenin' History, and share what I'm learning about history even more.  I've learned so much more about Kent's history than I ever imagined (especially the schools).  Joining the Facebook group "You Know you are from Kent if/when...." has been a lot of fun and educational!!  Now, here's to hoping 2012 is a good one!  Oh, and I just noticed that this is my 200th actual post on this blog!  Wow!

My Mission...10 Years Later

With my brother just before I officially entered the MTC

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the beginning of my mission.  I entered the Provo Missionary Training Center (MTC) on December 12, 2001.  Like with anything that marks the passage of time, in some ways it's hard to believe it's been 10 years while in others, it seems like a lifetime ago that my mission started.  I often reflect on my mission and the experiences I had, especially around this time.  Since I entered the MTC on December 12 (12/12), it's easy to remember! My mission really taught me about missionary work (what it is and what it isn't and why we do it) and tons about the difference between doctrine and culture.  I also learned a lot about what it means to sustain our leaders and how to be more direct with my own views and concerns.

MTC Referral Center

When I look at pictures of myself at the MTC (the few that still exist...most were lost when my luggage was stolen January 3 just after arriving in Tucson), I often think "wow, you have no idea what's coming!"  Indeed, I really didn't.  Going on a mission was something I was definitely ready for.  When my brother dropped me off at the MTC, he was far more emotional about it than I was.  I was more of the "OK, here we go" mentality.  Basically, it was a new phase in my life that I was ready for, so there wasn't a lot of emotion involved for me.  As emotional as my brother was, even so he gave me some blunt, but sound, advice: "Make sure to have fun...if people around you don't want to, they can go to hell!" or something like that.  I still laugh about it, but it was something I tried to hold to my entire time.  Yes, missionary work is important and serious, but it is also fun (or should be).  I saw too many missionaries around me make it into something unenjoyable.

On the MTC campus Christmas Day

The hardest thing for me on my mission was the whole process of filling time every day.  You really get to the point that if you aren't actively doing something like tracting or visiting someone that you're "slacking off" or "wasting time".  Especially as a senior companion (when I was in charge of what we were doing), I would just agonize over how to spend the day.  As a junior companion, I remember many times my senior comp would fill time with tracting (going door to door).  Not only was tracting the least effective way to reach people, but the whole monotony of it drove me insane.  I usually resorted to tracting only in the rarest of circumstances; basically there was nothing else to do and/or we had no one to teach.  I tended to focus more on us being seen in public and getting to know the members more.  Along with that, getting to know families that members who weren't LDS was something I focused on.  It wasn't a "schmooz them so we can baptize them" kind of thing, but rather a "get to know them so we're more than just recruiters" kind of thing.  We called that "building relationships of trust" or "BRT".  Even so, I did my share of tracting in the Arizona Tucson Mission.  I never really had any success from it in any area.

Article that ran right before I left for the MTC...one of those pictures I look and think "you have no idea what's coming!"

Before I left...

Success was another thing I have thought a lot about.  In most of the LDS culture, "success" on a mission is defined by the number of baptisms you have on your mission and/or by the positions you hold.  I really don't even know the number of baptisms I "had" since there are many ways you could count them.  There were some that I taught from the very beginning, some I came in near the beginning, and some I barely even knew before they were baptized; I just happened to get transferred in at a certain point.  And heck, there were some I taught that got baptized after (in some cases LONG after) I left.  Even then, who cares?  The number isn't what's important.  The important thing is that I got to know the person as a friend and was able to teach them.  I still try to keep in touch with as many of the people I taught as I can.  Why?  Because I consider them friends.  And really, what happened after the statistic of the baptism?  Did they stay active?  Were they baptized because they were really making a new commitment in their lives or were they doing it for some other reason?  No, the real measure of success of a mission is not only in how the people you taught are doing years later, but also how well you are remembered by them and the others you worked with.  In that sense, I feel like I had a very successful mission.  I also feel like there were definitely points on my mission that I was so concerned with getting that "statistic" that I ignored that fact that the people we were teaching weren't ready to be baptized.  There was an instance in Las Cruces, New Mexico that I will never forget.  We were teaching this guy who was pretty interesting (I'd say CRAZY...I could write an entire blog post just on my experiences teaching this guy!) and he expressed an interest in being baptized, so we got everything ready to go, which included an interview with the zone leader (a fellow missionary).  Well, he "failed" the interview, meaning the zone leader didn't think this guy was ready.  I remember being pretty upset about it and feeling like he was being too picky, worrying too much, etc.  At that point, I just wanted that golden baptism stat so it looked like my companion and I were accomplishing something (even though in reality we were accomplishing quite a bit).  Not too long after, we found out this guy had been meeting with people from other churches too and was basically just trying to find someone to give him a welfare handout. He had no interest in taking any of the baptismal commitments seriously.  On the flip side, I and this same companion also taught a guy in Las Cruces who never got baptized while we were there (I was in Las Cruces for 12 weeks and my companion had been there 6 weeks prior to me getting there...I taught him every week I was there and my companion had taught him for the first time the week before I arrived).  We asked him a number of times, but he always hesitated.  Basically, I remember telling him that if he wasn't sure, to wait until he was sure or it wouldn't be worth it.  Well, I had been home in Ohio about 6 months when I got a call that he was going to be baptized that weekend.  It was almost a year after I had been teaching him.  He's still active in the church and was sealed in the temple.  Is that my success story?  Hardly, but I'm glad I was able to play a part in that.  THAT is success on a mission; being an instrument in the hand of the Lord to help bring people closer to him, whatever step in coming closer that may be.

The mission was full of fun and new experiences...
This one's for you Jensens!!

My mission also was my first real taste of the "Utah" culture I've blogged about before.  Prior to that, I had only even visited Utah a few times on family trips and we were only there for a week or two at the most.  I mostly interacted with my cousins, who were all at least 4 years younger than me.  My mission is also where I first heard the term "Utard" and saw real-life examples of it. That said, of the 15 different companions I had, one of the worst I had was from Utah and one of the best I had was also from Utah, but I had extremes from other places too.  Even so, I definitely noticed a general trend among the attitudes, particularly in how they regarded members and themselves, and their general ignorance of other religious beliefs and customs.  My first mission president wasn't immune from those attitudes either.  In fact, from what I heard from my own companions (my first 4 companions were zone leaders, meaning they interacted with the president much more than your typical missionary since they were in charge of several companionships), he pretty much promoted what I felt were very condescending and arrogant attitudes, like the missionaries (particularly those from Utah) were more knowledgeable about how the church operates than any member in the area.  Ummmm, no.  As I've said before, it's like me saying I'm more knowledgeable about how our country runs because I'm closer to Washington, DC, than someone from, say, Utah.  And as I've said before, in no way do I consider this a general view of everyone from Utah; I have many very good friends from Utah who are in no way like this.  But I saw it enough that I knew it wasn't isolated to a few people.  

Elder Huwe, far left, was my last companion, and someone I still keep in touch with.  We were about as opposite as two people could be, but we got along very well and got tons done in Ruidoso!

My companion Elder Graff in Las Cruces, who I still
keep in touch with.  We were cool like that

I also made tons of friends on my mission who I do my best to still keep in touch with.  Many are people I worked with who were members of the various wards and branches I served in.  Others are former companions or other missionaries I served with somewhere in the mission.  Of the 15 companions I mentioned earlier, I am still in touch in some way with 10 of them (via Facebook and some have blogs...well, their respective wife has a blog!).  Of the other 5 I simply haven't been able to track down 4 of them and 1 decided he didn't want to stay in touch with me via Facebook.  I try to visit many of them as often as time and means permit.  Of course there are many experiences that bring people together and a mission is one of many chapters of my life that has brought people into my life that I still consider great friends.

Elder Kay was one of my favorite companions.
We served together for 6 weeks in Safford, AZ.

I learned a great deal about myself and really refined my personal ideology and general beliefs.  That's not to say I haven't had any refinements since then, but the mission definitely exposed me to a lot of new ideas and concepts and made me analyze many of the ideas I came on my mission with.  One thing I really saw refined was my view on sustaining church leaders.  Being on a mission showed me the humanity of church leaders, so it made me even more of a person who questions authority than someone who easily submits.  That's not to say I question everything, but I definitely think it over and generally say something if I don't think it's the best course of action or that it could be improved somehow.  Just ask the guys I served in bishopric with during my one-year tenure as ward executive secretary!  You can also ask my second mission president.  In all honesty, my first mission president intimidated me to the extreme.  Not only was I a new missionary, but his personality didn't exactly come across as warm and caring.  Plus, he left when I had been on my mission all of 7 months, so I never really got to interact with him all that much.  My second mission president, however, was much different.  Not only was he more approachable in terms of personality, but since I had been out on my mission 7 months already AND I knew he had never served a full-time mission, I wasn't intimidated at all.  This helped me be more direct in addressing concerns than I had been before my mission. I'd say we began and ended on a good relationship.  In the middle there were definitely some rocky points, which shaped my views on leadership, how it works, and how I choose to deal with it.  I think our relationship was at its lowest point when I was in the latter half of my mission, mostly because he had heard some rather ridiculous things about how I was as a missionary and interpreted my very laid back and hard-to-impress attitude (which I still have) as not being excited about missionary work.  Even when I was about to get transferred to my final area, he asked me where I wanted to go so I would be most effective, but it was preceded with a "do you plan on being sick the rest of your mission".  Apparently, he had heard (who knows WHERE) that I had been staying in until like 1 PM every day.  It was ridiculous because we had morning appointments at that time every day except one.  The heat definitely got to me throughout my mission, so I would take naps at lunch, but it was rare that it took multiple hours.   In the transfer leading up to that, I remember staying in a few times when I didn't feel good, but it was hardly anything remotely unusual.  Anyway, I ended up going to my last area, Ruidoso, New Mexico, and did very well there.  The comments he got from members there about how my companion and I were doing combined with some positive comments he had been getting the tail end of my time in Alamogordo, NM (area I was in before Ruidoso) really helped turn my reputation around with him.  Plus I know he was under his own stress and was learning a lot "on the job" too.  I think being out far away from mission headquarters and in an area that I seemed to understand what they needed as far as missionary work went was the difference.  I'll definitely give him the credit for being inspired to ask me where I wanted to go, but I take the credit for being inspired as to where I should've gone!

My 21st birthday in Alamogordo, New Mexico.  I've always loved this picture

I definitely tried to follow my brother's advice and have
fun...PLUS I did see snow 3 times the entire mission!

I could probably go on for quite awhile about things I learned and experienced on my mission.  I think what  I want to drive home the most is being honest about what a mission really is.  The general culture of the church really tends to frown on talking negatively about one's mission, like we're supposed to pretend that nothing bad happens and only pass along the faith-promoting and positive experiences.  I had tons of that, but to sit here and pretend like that's all I had would be not only disingenuous, but dishonest.  There are LOTS of things that I didn't like about my mission.  To be honest, most days totally sucked or were rather ordinary.  The difference, though, is that the great days and experiences that accompanied them were so wonderful that they were able to carry me through the more mundane and discouraging days.  Going on a mission is rough and there were many days that I wondered what on Earth I was doing, why I was there, how I could possibly last one more minute, and just wanted to throw in the towel and head home.  I didn't like seeing missionaries seemingly blamed when they didn't get baptism numbers or when they were having a rough time finding people to teach.  I also didn't like how so many elders were complete brown nosers, but in reality were completely out of touch with the realities of what they were there for and how to really be the most effective and genuine missionaries they could be.  Too many were concerned with the stats and statures of the mission.  That led to the whole mission politics aspect, which I could've easily done without as well!  That said, I never regret serving a mission.  It is an accomplishment I am proud of and cherish for what I have learned and the lifelong connections I have made.  Would I do it again knowing what I know?  Eh, probably not.  It's not being negative, just being honest and real.  It's tough work...and if all I had to worry about was just missionary work, I'd definitely do it again!

Elder Miles is another companion I keep in touch with.  We served together for 12 exciting weeks in Alamogordo, NM.  I was seriously depressed when he got transferred.  My mission president can be seen on the far left

But here I am, 10 years after it all started.  It's good to reflect both on how far I've come and where I still would like to go from here.  Things definitely haven't worked out the way I always envisioned them, but hopefully 2012 will bring some positive developments!  As for missionary work, we just got two missionary elders in my ward, the first time we've had elders in a few years.  It's interesting that this happened right when I was really thinking a lot about my own mission and now I can more actively participate in missionary work again.  Not that I couldn't with the awesome sister missionaries we've had here the last few years, but there were some limitations for sure that I don't have to worry about with the elders.  To any of my many mission friends (members and missionaries alike) who may read this, I would love to hear from you in the comments!

Ohio License Plates

I read a few days ago that Ohio will be getting yet another new license plate design coming soon.  This is after we just got our current license plate design (known as Beautiful Ohio) only about 2 years ago.  It was originally supposed to come out in 2008 I believe, but when the economy really went south, the state decided to hold off on introducing them.  Instead, they became optional late 2009 (along with the previous Sunburst design) and then in 2010 became the new standard plate.  I honestly don't have a problem with the Beautiful Ohio design.  I know some people think it's too busy, some don't like the colors, others don't like the artwork.  You're never going to satisfy everyone.  I'm more of an artsy and creative person who loves color, so the new plate was a welcome change over the boring Sunburst design.  I got my Beautiful Ohio plate back in February 2010.

"Sunburst" design, used from 2004-2010

"Beautiful Ohio" design, first used in 2009

New proposed design

Now, we will likely be getting another plate design.  Again, I'm not opposed to it, though the design kind of underwhelms me.  Reading the comments, those who disliked the Beautiful Ohio design really liked the new design, while others derided it as boring (again, you can't satisfy everyone).  The new red part of the new design is supposed to emulate wings to continue Ohio's obsession with connecting to the Wright Brothers.  What I do like about the new design is that "OHIO" is bold and easy to read.  The last three plate designs for Ohio have all had "Ohio" in script, which is very hard to read.  I'm someone that likes to be able to look at a license plate while I'm on the road and easily be able to tell which state it's from.  The thin script used for Ohio has never been something I've liked.  Make it bold!  The new design does that, which I like.  I don't mind the overall simplicity either.  I do like all the little slogans and facts in the background, but who's gonna see them and read them?  Interesting idea, but not very practical to me.

Anyway, for the longest time I've thought we should incorporate the fact that Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon, is from Ohio.  That's a pretty cool fact to me.  No disrespect to the Wright Brothers, but we've had "Birthplace of Aviation" on our license plates since 1998.  More than just the Wright Brothers came from Ohio, not to mention that North Carolina also capitalized on the Wright Brothers' flight with their "First in Flight" moniker.  So, here's my plate design.  I'm sure people might think it's too busy, but I think a lot of people would like it.  It uses one of the pictures from the "Earthrise" series taken from the surface of the moon, which would be easy to use since they're in the public domain already.  This is my idea:

Blogging decline

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a stats person.  It's part of my attention to detail, but I will definitely notice statistical measures, especially things like attendance at sporting events versus seating capacity and other numerical trends.  Well, I've noticed how much my blogging has declined over the past few years, going from 69 posts in 2008 (which included my posts on my old MySpace blog), to 44 in '09, to 37 last year, now to just 16 (this is #16) in 2011.  It's not like I have less time this year than last (it's probably about the same amount really), but for whatever reasons I just don't find the time or motivation to blog much the past year.  I've noticed my Wikipedia activity has also declined over the past year, though lately it seems to be increasing again.  Even so, it's nowhere near the peak I hit back in late 2010. 

Part of the decline with my blog here has been because I've been blogging on the Kent Patch website.  Originally the idea was that I would blog about once a month there, but that hasn't panned out either.  I have a blog in the works, but have found the current reading audience there really isn't all that interested in sports, so I'm far less motivated to write blog posts there since my topic is sports.  The only post that got any noticeable amount of comments was my post about the Kent-Ravenna football rivalry and how it's much older than it is credited for.  The comments, however, came not because of interest in the topic, but more because one specific commenter thought they were smarter than they were and basically called me out for using the name "Kernel" for the 1923 Roosevelt yearbook, assuming that I was just "sloppy" in using that term instead of "Colonel".  Well, unfortunately for that person, the 1923 Roosevelt yearbook was called "The Kernel" (The name The Colonel for the school publication seems to show up in the late 1930s/early 1940s, but it was never the name of the yearbook or "annal").  Most of the comments after were directed at that individual showing them how incorrect they were.  It was nice to see that people were reading it, but most of my other posts seem to go unnoticed.  Maybe people aren't commenting, but when I see other blogs getting regular comments, it's less motivating!  Keep an eye out, though, on kent.patch.com for my blog.  I just submitted a new post today, so it should be up in the next few days. 

Another reason for the decline in blogging is, I think, trying to figure out which direction to take this blog.  Do I want it more personal?  Do I want it to be on certain topics I like?  Do I want it to be reviewing products or experiences I've had?  I already broke off the most personal aspects of the blog by creating a private blog.  But lately, with my interest in local history at an all-time high, perhaps I should consider making a history blog separate from this one.  My worry is that I have too many blogs to manage.  At this point I'm thinking of making this more of my opinion blog (since it's subtitled "The World According to Jon") and having that cover my political rants and other opinions, while separating off my history posts to a new blog and possibly expanding my personal blog or having two personal blogs (keeping the existing one for my most personal opinions while making another one to share pictures and stories.  Still much to think about!

Lastly, I think my interest in history has taken much of my motivation and time from blogging.  For the past few months I've really been active in the Facebook group "You Know you are from Kent if/when..."  I have posted several photos of local interest and have commented on many others that have been posted.  I've learned tons of new things about Kent history and shared my own insights too.  It's been a lot of fun and has been nice to be appreciated for what I have discovered about Kent history!  If you're from Kent and on Facebook, be sure to check it out (and it's more than just history too!).  It's a "closed" group, so a current group member has to add you, but it's easy to request.

Davey Discoveries

When I posted last, I had hoped it would be the first of a succession of Kent Schools-related posts.  Well, life had other plans.  After an unexpected trip to the hospital at the end of August, surgery, recovery, getting back to work, and other life adventures the past month-and-a-half, I finally find myself able to start catching up on blogging again.

 I decided to blog again about what many in Kent refer to as the Davey building.  It is currently Davey Elementary School, but opened originally as Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1922, as Davey Junior High School in 1959, and Davey Middle School in 1993.  After a major renovation in 1999-2000, it reopened in August 2000 as Davey Elementary School.  It is the oldest school building in the Kent City School District (DePeyster School is actually older, but no longer serves as a school).  As I talked about in my blog post about Davey last year, I attended the building for grades 6-8 in the mid 1990s during its run as Davey Middle School.  Even as a student I recognized the building's rich history and was always fascinated by it and how much it has changed over the years.  Recently, I've been able to find out even more about the building's early days and confirm some of my suspicions about how things were when it opened and even discover some things I never even knew!

Subbing at Roosevelt the last 2-plus years, I've spent some time in the teacher's lounge for lunch or other down time.  In the lounge is a display case of Roosevelt memorabilia, which includes a photocopy of the 1922 dedication what is now Davey.  I had been pining to get the case open to get that program and the 1959 program from the original portion of the current high school because I suspected the 1922 program had a map of the building when it was new which would answer some of the questions I had.  I finally was able to get it open last month and was more than thrilled to find that the 1922 program did indeed have a detailed building map that not only shows the building's layout, but even details like where doors and windows were.  I've also been participating in a Facebook group called "You Know You're From Kent if/when..." that has several history-minded people like myself and past Roosevelt graduates who attended school at "Old" Roosevelt and even scanned some yearbook pictures and/or shared experiences.  It's been a lot of fun!  Here are some of my discoveries and confirmations along with the building maps from the 1922 dedication of what was then Theodore Roosevelt High School.

I was particularly happy to see the picture on top of the southeast view of the school as it originally appeared.  The 1966 addition to the school was built on this side, so you can't see it anymore.  In the background you can see the end of the gym that is covered up and where the windows used to be on that side of the gym.

Approximate views from the 1922 angles as seen in 2006.  As you can see in this second picture, not much has changed on this side!

1922 map of the basement and 1st floors.  This confirmed what I suspected in my previous blog that the original balcony in the gym was three-sided.  Today only one side remains (far left side) and it is separated by a wall from the rest of the gym and the floor on it was leveled, so most people don't even realize it was ever a balcony.  Of course today the full balcony wouldn't work because a regulation-sized basketball court wouldn't fit on the floor below!  The basement plan also shows where the original doors to the gym were that have been bricked over.  Other points of interest include the boys and girls locker alcoves on the first floor, the "dental clinic" on the first floor, and a "foot warmer" where the display case is now across the hall from the main entrance to the auditorium (labeled as "Assembly Room").  I've been told the foot warmer is actually still there underneath the display case!  My lingering question is whether or not the "passageway" on the left (west) side of the auditorium was open air or fully enclosed like it is now.  The passageway on the right (east) side was most definitely open air with a roof prior to the construction of the 1966 addition.  I also never realized that the far left (west) side of the 1st floor was one huge room originally.  When I was at Davey it had long been divided into 3 rooms and today is divided into 2 rooms (music and art) with 2 offices in between.  This building was also the home of the entire Board of Education too!

Map of the 2nd and 3rd floors in 1922.  I was surprised to see the emergency exit on the front right corner of the balcony.  That doorway is still there, but goes into the back of the teacher prep room (where the copy machine is) that is located in what used to be a staircase.  Both staircases on the right side of the building were removed during the 1966 addition.  I couldn't help but notice how many staircases there are in this building (particularly staircases that are more than likely emergency exits), which leads me to believe it was influenced by the Collinwood School Disaster just a few years prior (1908).  

Another discovery made recently was the sign that was once over the front doors.  Last year a local antique dealer, Don Barrett, found a large metal sign that read "THEODORE ROOSEVELT HIGH" with "Class of 1933" in small letters below it.  Roger Sidoti, who was principal of Roosevelt until this past summer, bought the sign and it's currently sitting in the wood shop at Roosevelt.  There are some tentative plans to mount it and have it displayed at the high school.  Where it was mounted at Davey is still visible (the bolt holes are still there) and one of the posted yearbook pictures from 1959 (last year the building served as Roosevelt) show the sign above the door.  As far as I know it's only the second class memorial to get moved from "Old Roosevelt" to the current building, the other being a decorative medallion of the school seal from the Class of 1940 in the sidewalk in front of the main entrance off North Mantua Street.  It had previously been in the sidewalk that goes straight out from the front entrance at Davey.  All other class memorials are still at Davey.  The current Roosevelt building has very few class memorials.  Most class "gifts" these days are purchases of equipment or something low-key (Class of 1999, however, helped pay for the large metal Rough Rider sculpture at the main cafeteria entrance) versus the bronze plaques, lamp posts, and even a Bible verse (Psalm 90:12) that are all over and around Davey.  

Front doors of Davey Elementary School on October 5, 2011 showing where the bolt holes are still visible.

Sign sitting on its side in the wood shop at Roosevelt.  On the back are wedges that angled the sign down slightly.

Picture of the front doors at "Old" Roosevelt in late 1958/early 1959 in its last year as a high school.  The metal
sign can be seen above the keystone of the arch.  It even gives off a small triangular shadow showing that it was angled down slightly, which matches the structure of the sign currently sitting in the wood shop.  The lamp posts seen are still there and were restored recently!

Class of 1925 Memorial from Psalm 90:12.  This is over the main doors to the auditorium and is the first thing you see upon entering the school through the main front doors. 

School seal from the Class of 1940.  This is located in the sidewalk right in front of the entrance to the auditorium lobby facing North Mantua Street at the current Roosevelt High School.  It is the only class monument currently on display at the high school that was moved from the previous building to the current one that I am aware of.  It was previously located in a triangular area where the sidewalk from the main entrance (which lines up with the centerline of North Prospect Street) to what is now Davey met the intersection of Lowell, Whittier, Park, and Prospect.  When I was a student at Davey, there was a similar medallion in the sidewalk that had been placed there in 1959 for the dedication of Davey Junior High School.  It was removed during the 1999-2000 renovations and not replaced.  

Location of the seal seen above at the current high school building.  I had to brush it off before I took the picture above!  "New" Roosevelt opened in 1959.  This section of the building (auditorium addition) opened in late 1972.