First Day of School

Yesterday marked the end of the summer of 2008 as the Clark kids headed back to school. There were no major incidents and everybody made it on time. It also marked the beginning of Back-To-School night at Brentsville District High School. As you know, Kellie is entering her sophomore year at BDHS and having back to school night on the first day of the year is a little unusual, but that's the way the schedule fell out this year. At BDHS, this is a 2-hour long affair where you go to each of Kellie's classrooms, meet here teachers, get an idea of the year's coursework, walk around the school, generally getting a feel for the place.

Unlike last year, Kellie is very sure of herself and completely at home here. She is still a Cheerleader, but with a little prodding from old Mom and Dad, she has expanded her studies somewhat this year. The big addition to the curriculum is a Cambridge class. I am not sure how widespread it is in the State of Virginia (excuse me, The Commonwealth of Virginia), but Prince William County schools offer classes in a secondary education program designed by the University of Cambridge. Yes, this is the college in England and the home of the European scoundrels chased back to the British Isles in 1783. Nonetheless, it is a more stringent course akin to Advanced Placement (AP) classes held through the country. Most of the colleges in Virginia accept these courses as college credit. In Cambridge-speak they are referred to as IGCSE courses. IGCSE stands for International General Certificate for Secondary Education. Kellie is taking this as a requirement of her advanced diploma program. In a drastic departure from my High School days, the Commonwealth offers a basic or an advanced diploma. Kellie's goal, whether she knows it or not, is the advanced diploma. As such, her IGCSE class this year is English. She will be reading and writing more this year than at any point in her life, and we wish her the best of luck. The only other class of interest for Kellie this year is Driver's Education. (Yikes!!!!)

Austin is also beginning his second year at Middle School and has become the senior class at Gainesville Middle School (8th Grade). Austin made amazing improvements last year with his grades and promises to do the same again this year. He will begin High School next year. That is not a typo. In 12 months, Austin will enter his Freshman year in High School. Until then, he will be holding court at Middle School.

Kara began her last year in Elementary School (5th Grade) and shares senior class status as the highest grade in her school with her brother. Kara has the added advantage of being assigned to a teacher that taught Kellie in fifth grade. This is good news for everybody, because we have a very good comfort level with this teacher and Kara will definitely be prepared for Middle School next year. Also new this year is Kara's new role as bus stop safety patrol. She has been issued the appropriate uniform and is in charge of any and all matters that relate to bus safety.

Back to School nights for Austin and Kara are sometime in the next two weeks, and I am sure there will be more to report at that time.

YouTube

Today marks Austin and Kara's YouTube debut. With the help of their friends, they uploaded two videos today that feature their particular brand of humor. Kara acted as cameraman for both videos and appears in the first video as well.

Video #1: How to Annoy People

Video #2: Stupid People

SOL Scores

In the Commonwealth of Virginia, all Elementary and Middle School students are required to take a Standard of Learning (SOL) test in subjects that vary by grade. These scores are used by the school to measure their overall performance and are factored into individual school awards.

Spring 2008 scores:

Austin

Test	Score	Performance
Civics/Economics	548	Pass Advanced
Math	442	Pass Proficient
Reading	549	Pass Advanced

Kara

Test	Score	Performance
History/Social Science	600	Pass Advanced
Math	570	Pass Advanced
Reading	592	Pass Advanced

The scores reveal a few things about the kids. The overall performance is more than satisfactory as all but one of the scores is in the advanced range. Austin's turnaround in his grade performance can also be seen in his scores. Kudos to Austin for all of his hard work this past year. Kara's overall performance on the SOL was spectacular, anchored by a perfect score in History. Congratulations to the both of them.

Camping Trip

Last week, Ron M. suggested that we take our boys up into the Shenandoah mountains for a overnight camping trip. Needing no convincing, Austin and I readily agreed. The big day was last Saturday, and we all piled into Ron's truck and headed up to Shenandoah National Park and the Mathews Arm campground. This is a good campground to take kids to because it's not backwoods camping, you can park your vehicle next to you and they have some amenities (bathrooms, sinks, etc). The bad news is that you are in a campground with several other campers and the feeling of being out in the woods may not be there. This turned out to be false as two encounters with potentially dangerous wildlife proved to make the trip much more memorable than we could have hoped.

When we arrived, we made a pass through the campground, looking for a good spot to camp. The first thing that we noticed is that the campground was much more crowded than I anticipated. By the end of the day, there were only a handful of spaces left unoccupied. We made our first pass and decided to head back to a specific camp near the entrance to the camp that was in the "no generator" zone. As we approached our camp, I noticed that a woman was standing outside here tent taking a picture. Nothing unusual about that, but in this case she was taking a picture of the woods behind her tent. Not really seeing anything worthwhile regarding subject matter in a bunch of trees, my gaze lingered a little bit to see if there was anything that might draw her attention. As soon as I say the object of here attention, I told Ron to immediately back up because what I had seen left little doubt that we were not in Kansas anymore. Ron backed up and we all were greeted with the sight of a lumbering black bear walking along the edge of the campground in the woods. The lady camper was calmly taking a picture of the visitor, and the bear wasn't any more than 50 feet away from her. She didn't appear nervous, and we were in the relative safety of the truck, so we moved on. Ron dropped everyone off at the camp site and went back to the Ranger Station to reserve site A31. I stayed behind with the three boys to make sure that no one poached our site. As you would expect, the boys were somewhat apprehensive that we may encounter the bear again, but I assured them that the bear would remain outside the camp and wouldn't enter the camp with so many people around. After some time waiting for Ron to reappear, Jack and I made the short walk to a point where we could determine if the bear was still around. We didn't see anything and Ron passed us on his return to the campsite. We were unloading the truck when two Rangers in a golf cart stopped near us. Thinking that they wanted to speak to us, we stopped unloading gear and looked in their direction. They ignored us and continued to stare into the woods directly across the road. We followed their gaze and there was our friend the bear walking through the woods, but clearly inside the campground. To make matters worse, he had crossed the road into the campsite directly where Jack and I had stood not five minutes beforehand. The Rangers elected to leave him alone and since he was walking away from us, we continued to unpack. We never saw him again, and it only occurred to me after the fact that I should have taken a picture of him. Opportunity lost.

Once we made camp, we flagged down the Rangers and got directions to the Overall Run Falls, a destination that we had selected the day before. It promised to be a 2-mile hike. When we informed the Rangers of our destination, he took a look at Jack and told us that the trail was "a little steep". We thanked him headed out. When we entered the trail and began walking, we noted both the downhill path and the haggard looks on the campers headed towards us. This becomes important later. About a half-mile into the hike, we ran across a Father/Daughter pair who told us that they had seen a very large rattlesnake next to the trail and to proceed with caution because it might have remained. We proceeded in single file making sure that Ron or myself always had the kids between us. About 100 feet later, we heard the snake's rattle and froze. Personally I had never heard this sound, but I had little trouble identifying it. The rattle was much higher pitched that I would have guessed, but it was very clear what the source was. We followed the sound and mere inches off the trail and no more than five feet away was a rattlesnake. "Very large" proved to be an understatement because I found myself looking at the largest snake I have ever seen in the wild. Size is one thing, but realizing that a poisonous snake is spitting distance away from you and you are too far away to make it safely back to camp should you get bit makes your heart rate increase. We stood our ground, but it stood it's ground as well. It coiled atop a log and faced us, watching our every move, and we couldn't get it to budge by throwing rocks at it. I had my trusty Nikon with me, so I managed to snap a few shots of the reptile during the standoff. Click on the picture to blow it up, it's worth it. You can see the rattle and that he is extremely interested in me.

Finally, Ron picked up Jack and carefully walked by. He watched, but didn't do anything. Austin crossed next, followed by Trey and myself. After we walked by, the snake decided to leave, whereupon I managed another shot of him.


Neither of these pictures gives any indication of how big he was. We took care to warn all approaching campers that he was there, but we never saw him again. Along the remainder of the hike, we were warned of two additional rattler sightings, but we had no further encounters.

Back to the hike, the trail very noticeable continued downhill, for the next 90 minutes! When we approached the waterfall, the trail was literally stairs cut into the side of the mountain. We did make it to the waterfall and it proved to be underwhelming. While there, we were treated to some spectacular landscapes. We were also treated to a hawk sighting.


Once we saw the waterfall, we began the slow trek back to camp. Astute readers will quickly realize that if your hike was downhill for the first half, your return trip is going to be uphill. This fact was not lost on us as we struggled uphill and everyone's eagerness to be hiking rapidly dissipated. We saw far more people on the trails than I would have expected, but perhaps we should have anticipated this since the campground was essentially full. The following picture was taken on the return trip and you can clearly see the signpost directing you to the Appalachian Trail behind the boys.


Having had our fill of hiking, we returned to camp. We got our fire going and had hot dogs and smores for dinner. As we were preparing to bed down, I noticed something walking through our campsite and a flashlight revealed a small deer parading through. That night, we could clearly hear several deer walking very close to the tent. As many times as I have been camping, I have never heard that many animals outside of the tent at night. All I was listening for were telltale bear grunts.

I would be lying if I said that was the best night's sleep I have had, but these old bones are too used to a mattress. After we got up, we quickly decamped and headed home. We drove along the mountain and stopped at several overlooks. Sample shot:


All in all, a cool trip, a very good idea from Ron, and we managed to see a few things we don't see in the 'Burbs.

Bad Jobs

I ran across this today and offer it is a reminder that there are those among us that have truly bad jobs. I hope that it brightens your day.

First ride of the year

Today I took the R1 out for my first ride of the year. This is an event two weeks in the making because 14 days ago I geared up only to discover that the battery was dead and the bike was going nowhere. The good news was that it wasn't completely dead and was on the verge of turning over. 24 hours on the Battery Tender and all was well. Regrettably, I did not connect the Yamaha to it all winter and almost paid the price. Using a battery tender is a little tip I got from my dad and if you have a bike, you will need one of these things, especially if you have a small battery like the weight-conscious sport bikes do. I waited until the next weekend, but it rained so much last weekend that nothing was done, much less a little riding.

I needed a haircut and riding to the barber shop was a good excuse to get on the road. I got my haircut and headed out west. I rode for a good two hours and while my forearms need a little conditioning, all was well. I took it easy and never went into triple digits. This is a good time to ride through the Virginia countryside because it still isn't scorching hot and the scenery looks great. The new tires presented no problems and seemed to grip well enough. I will head out to the mountains on my next ride to see what the Michelins can do.

I also plan to wash and wax it at my first opportunity and take some pictures with the new camera. Look for them soon.

Nokesville Day - 2008

The big event of the day was Nokesville Day. Both Tracy and I volunteered to work the Brentsville cheerleading booth to help raise funds for the coming year. The original plan was to set up the booth early in the morning, the gracefully bow out and take a look around. As a veteran volunteer for the BDHS cheerleaders, this was wishful thinking. If you have ever volunteered for something like this, you know how things work. A lot of people volunteer, but few actually show up. As you have no doubt guessed by now, we were there from 7AM to 2PM, selling candy and raffle tickets. We never did get the full Nokesville day experience.

Give 'til it hurts

It's been said that no good deed goes unpunished. This maxim has proven to be true for Tracy. All week she has been suffering from chronic pain in her right knee. The first day or two after the walk, she assumed that the weekend's events had taken their physical toll and she just needed to rest.

Several days rest has not done anything to help the situation, so she feared something was wrong. She was, in fact, right. A quick visit to the doctor's office this morning confirmed two torn ligaments in her right knee. Father time strikes again.

The knee brace awaits.

Avon Walk - Pictures

As promised, I looked over the pictures I took on the second and final day of the Walk. Enjoy.


I think that the following two pictures accurately depict the essence of the entire weekend:

The Thrill of Victory


and The Agony of The Feet

We meant to meet the girls at one of the established cheering stations, but when we arrived downtown, it was too risky to try and get there. We proceeded directly to the finish line and began walking the route backwards. During the walk, young Millie elicited several comments from the walkers. A quick look at this picture and you will see why:

Millie Beth


All the kids were on hand to cheer Mom on, but the best shot of the day belonged to Austin:

Motherly Love

Here are the girls walking past the Embassy Suites on their final approach:

200 feet and it's over!

The finish line is mere yards away:

Team McClarmick has arrived. 39 miles or bust!

The neighborhood cheering section was also on hand:

Michelle & Cindy

Last shot of the day just before we departed for Virginia:

We Did It!!

Avon Walk - Day Two

She made it! Tracy walked every one of the required 39 miles to complete this year's walk. Ron McCormick and I took our respective broods to the city to be there when they crossed the finish line. We met them during the walk and escorted them during the last half mile.

Tracy's friends Michelle and Cindy also made the trip to watch her cross the finish line. I took plenty of picture and will post them here after I look through them. She's tired, cranky, and needs some rest, but other than that she is none the worse for the wear. The next few days provide a well-needed rest for her battered feet. As I reported yesterday, the feet were the biggest problem during the weekend. Both Tracy and Amanda have blistered tootsies to deal with. Congratulations to the both of them.

Avon Walk - Day One

As many of you know, Tracy and Amanda (Team McClarmick) are walking in the 2008 Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. The walk covers two days and totals 39 miles (26 miles the first day and 13 the second). They are camping out in a park in Bethesda tonight and will complete the walk tomorrow. I drove up to Bethesda to help out with the setup. All they really needed me to do was set up their tent, a task I was able to complete before they got there. I was there when Tracy pulled her shoes off and they had seen better days. A blister or three here and there. She will visit the medics in the morning and they should be able to fix her up. Congratulations to the both of them on making it through the first day.

There was an interesting coincidence while I was there. Tracy and Amanda were in the tent rubbing their worn feet and chowing down on the sodas and chicken wings that I was under death threats to provide. I was outside making sure the rain cover was properly tied down when a woman behind me asked about tent stakes. I have used extra stakes to anchor the rain guard on the sides and hers was flapping in the wind. I explained where I had found the cache of stakes by the trucks and offered to go get a couple for her. I am great guy and all, but my real motivation was the NCSU baseball hat she was wearing. I went to get the stakes and after she thanked me, I explained that I was an alumnus and her hat was the real reason. She then explained to me that her son is a high school senior and had narrowed his choice of school down to NC State and Alabama. I laughed and Amanda whooped it up in the tent. A little background. I am an obnoxiously proud member of the Wolfpack nation and the McCormicks are native Alabamians and are happy to explain to anyone who will listen what the hell "Roll Tide" means. Pretty cool, but in the end the young man had decided on the University of Alabama. I will note that a scholarship offer from Alabama swung the decision in their favor. Regardless, the coincidence was more than a little strange.

Once everything checked out, I left them in line at the portable showers and headed back to VA. One final note: On the way to the shower stalls, Tracy and Amanda ran into a mutual friend, Juliana. She was wearing a wide neck ribbon that read "Every Three Minutes". When I inquired into the meaning of the phrase, I was told that someone is diagnosed with breast cancer every three minutes. A little somber statistic to mull over, but it really drove the point home. This problem needs to be reigned in and that's why they are there.

Kellie's Report Card (9th Grade)

I don't have the actual report card in front of me, but I will post it as soon as tomorrow. Not to be too ominous, but I am not pleased.

Kara's Report Card (4th Grade)

Kara is doing extremely well and has shown improvement in every grade as the year progresses. She definitely deserves a pat on the back.

Course	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4
Reading	A	A	A
Writing	B+	B+	B+
Math	B	B+	B+
Social Studies	A	A	A
Science	B	A	A
Listening	S	S	S
Oral Language	S	S+	S+
Art	S	S	S
Physical Education	S	S	S
Music	S	S	S
Handwriting	S	S	S
Technology	S	S	S
Work Habits	S+	S	S+
Conduct	S+	S+	S+

Teacher Comments: Congratulations on another successful grading period, Kara! Thank you for always answering questions and being such a good listener during class. You have really been participating more and it shows! I'm so proud of your progress, Kara. You are wonderful.

Austin's Report Card (7th Grade)

I have been slack this year on posting grades, but I am trying to catch up. Report cards just came out and the news is somewhat mixed. That said, let's begin with the most pleasant surprise. Here is Austin's report card for the year to date. Comparisons with last year's grades will reveal a startling improvement in overall performance. Austin has definitely had a good year. We could not be more pleased.

Course	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4
Social Studies	B	B	B+
Science	B+	B	B+
Interdis. L.A.	B+
Expl Tech Ed		A
Expl FACS			A
Chorus	B	B	C+
Physical Education	A	A	A
Math	C+	B	B
Language Arts	B	B	B+

Comments:
Actively Participates in Class
Student Courteous/Cooperative
Work is of High Quality
Diligent in Preparing Homework

Chorus:
Needs to Participate in Class
Failure to Complete Homework

Surprise, Surprise

One of life's maxims is that your children will both disappoint you and amaze you at some time in their life. Today was one of the amazing moments. Kara was a participant in the Manassas St. Thomas children's program today. We had heard her lines and taken her to practice but did not get a chance to really hear her performance until she did it live.

The program was part of two of the periods of worship and Tracy took her early in the morning while I followed with Kellie and Austin for the later sermon. All week long Kara had told us that she was very nervous about getting up in front of the entire church, and truth be told, I could tell that she was fidgeting while she waited for her lines.

When she did speak, I was very pleasantly surprised by what happened, or rather what didn't happen. I am amazed by the fact that you can hear someone speak every day, and that familiarity does not prepare you for what comes out of a microphone. When Kara delivered her lines, it seemed at first that someone else was talking. She was still obviously nervous as revealed by her body language, but the voice betrayed nothing. What I heard did not sound like Kara, and I think I just had a glimpse of what she will sound like as a young woman. I heard a stunningly controlled clear voice that belied her ten years. She made no mistakes and it was clear that the longest monologue was given to the ablest candidate. In short, I was blown away by the performance.

I am not a good public speaker, but in my long life I have heard people who are. Today, I saw just such a budding talent in Kara. I was not the only one to notice. At brunch after the service, Mr. Ron told Kara that she had a career in politics ahead of her.

That career prospect aside, I was very proud of my daughter today. It is a good day all around when one of your own exceeds expectations.

Pepper Clark: Nov 25, 1990 - Apr 9, 2008

Today marks the end of a matriarch's reign in the Clark household. Due to renal failure, Pepper had to be put to sleep this morning at 9:48AM. Tracy and I were both present and we think we made the right decision to spare her the inevitable pain that would follow. Terriers live a long time and Pepper lived until the ripe old age of 17. No matter what human life span analogy you prefer to use, 17 years is a long long time. All of us can only hope that we have an equally long life.

It's a long enough to span the lives of every one of the Clark children and the effective length of my marriage. Pepper was Tracy's 21st birthday present, which means that Tracy was no more than a kid herself when Pepper joined our household. Pepper has lived with us so long that no one in the house can remember when she wasn't there. She has been a constant in our household for seemingly forever and she will be missed.

Pepper was born in Berlin, Maryland in a Kennel whose named had faded into the recesses of my memory. As I recall, we were there to look at Yorkshire and White West Highland Terriers, and there certainly were plenty of both, but for some reason, a small Cairn Terrier quietly hunkered down in the back of a pen with a sign that said "Toto"on it, caught Tracy's eye. Tracy took her out and the rest is history.

Today has been a very painful one for the Clark Girls. Tracy, Kellie, and Kara have all had their moments today, but time marches on. As we have planned for some time, we plan to inter her in Pembroke NC, somewhere on my parent's property.

No Laughing Matter

Yesterday, Tracy and I had a front seat in the theater of modern education and how the schools react to certain events. Apologies to Bob Uecker, but the "Front Row" is not always the best seat in the house. What I am rambling on about? The subject of our story today is Kellie and her ex-boyfriend. I am not sure what my legal standing is here, so I won't use any names.

About a month ago, Kellie broke up with her boyfriend and it seems that he did not take it too well. He left threatening text messages and posted several MySpace messages that made similar threats of violence. Just as we were wondering if these were the empty threats of a pissed of 15 year old kid, he posted a message online that he was going to "shoot" her. Since the young man in question is an avid hunter, this particular threat received the lion's share of our attention.

Realizing that enough is enough, Tracy printed several of these missives and took them to school. Once there, she showed them to the school police office for his opinion. This may be news to the elders among us, but in Northern Virginia, each middle and high school has a county police officer who works out of the school. They each have an office and it is this office that Tracy went to. The plan was to ask him for his opinion, but once he saw the threats, the course of events was set. Virginia is home to to Virginia Tech and Cho Seung-Hui so we are more than a little sensitive to this kind of stuff and there are action plans that must kick into gear.

In this case, the student was brought into the police officer's office and he readily admitted to authorship of the messages. Furthermore, his cell phone was confiscated and several more threatening messages were found in the outbox. Meanwhile, just to be absolutely sure, Kellie was removed from school grounds on Tracy's order.

We got a call later that day informing us what had happened. The kid received an automatic 10-day suspension and cannot return to school until he has passed a psychiatric evaluation. If he does return, he has been labeled a "high-risk" security problem and can searched on school property at any time for any reason. He was released into the custody of his father, who called Tracy this evening. What could have been a very contentious phone call was nothing of the sort. He was contrite and simply apologized for what happened.

Today, we found out that the kid posted a message to all his pals on MySpace that said goodbye and that he would not be returning. I am not sure what this means, but we think that it means he was expelled from the county school system.

It turns out that raising a teenager in today's world is exactly what it used to be. Today's teens are subject to a world that we cannot comprehend and because of the recent spate of school shooting, the knee-jerk reactions are the standard response.

Bottom line is that Kellie is safe and sound. There appear to be no repercussions at all. In order to stifle any attempt by the kid's friends to harass her, they were all brought in and told in terms that they could not fail to understand that they were being watched. This appears to be worked very well.

State Championship Picture - "The Wall"

Brentsville District High School places a team photograph of every state champion squad inside the school in the hallway leading to the gymnasium. This is known the students as "the wall". The wall is the ultimate goal of all the varsity teams. Trophies, medals, and patches are nice, but the wall provides the highest honor known to all teenagers; public recognition of your superiority for all to see for years to come.

Although Kellie's competition cheer team won the title last November, the team photograph was only recently mounted. Kellie came home and said that the photograph looked very good and that it was one that I had taken.

Tonight, after the completion of the driver's ed parent orientation, I took a stroll to the end of the hallway to take a gander at the picture, and I can report that the photograph was taken by yours truly.

It seems that this happened as follows. After the team won, the coach issued a call for any and all photographs taken at the finals. I dutifully turned over all the pictures that I had taken, after I had tuned the best ones using my editing software of course. It seems that my photographs were the best she got, because they ended up in the newspaper, on the school's web site and now on permanent display in the school.

I gave the picture a long critical look and two things were immediately apparent. One, the photograph is very good. Technically, I think it is the best photograph in the school. The clarity of the image is striking. Remember that we are taking about a picture blown up to 3 by 4 feet. Second, although the image was taken by a 6MP entry level Nikon DLSR, don't let that fool you. When I bought my camera, I did not buy into the hype that more megapixels are better. A 6MP camera can take a professional grade picture. I have proof.

Nikon's latest flagship model is a 12 MP camera. Despite the apparent disadvantage to Canon's 21MP flagship model, the Nikon produces images that have the Canon camp shaking their heads in amazement. If you have a D40, D50, a D100, or D2 and you are looking with envy to the D80, D200, D40x, or D60 take heart. Your camera kicks ass.

One final note, the picture that was selected to put on "the wall" was NOT taken in automatic mode. All the time I have spent shooting with my own settings is paying off.

Driver's Education

I just had an uncomfortable experience this evening. I attended the mandatory driver's education parent information meeting. This is a prerequisite for all student who plan to enter the Virginia Schools driver education course. Kellie is not due to attend this class until next semester in the fall, but the time for my orientation was tonight.

This entire experience brings a single thought to mind. How is the hell did I arrive at this time in my life this fast? One day I am taking young Kellie to her first preschool class and the next I am facing a life altering event in the very near future. This event, of course, is the act of handing over the keys to one of my vehicles to one of my kids. Time is a cruel mistress.

Times have changed with regard to driver's ed. For example, the state of Virginia has a driving curfew for all drivers under the age of 18. They are restricted from carrying more than one person under the age of eighteen in the vehicle who is not a immediate family member. They cannot operate a motor vehicle while using a cell phone, regardless of whether they are using a headset. The state will issue the driver's license to the parents, who will retain the right and ability to legally revoke the license until their child turns 18. This is just what I can remember.

Needless to say, I found the entire affair somewhat disconcerting.

High School Letter

Two days ago, Kellie received her letter for Competition Cheer that she will have sewn onto her letter jacket. She also received a Class AA State Championship patch that also goes somewhere on the jacket. We are having all of this put on this week, so she should be able to proudly display it the next time you see her.