Day 498 -- Jogger's Progress

	Trip	YTD	Nov
Distance	2840.8	1466.3	123.7
Time	18 days, 0 hrs, 12 min	9 days, 15 hrs, 18 min	20:06
Days	498	241	22
States	13	6	1

November was a pretty good month, overall. Twenty-two days was the same as October, but I managed to make 30 more miles! A couple of long runs helped with that. I did eight miles today, because they are projecting a snowstorm for tomorrow, so I may not get to run at all this weekend. We'll see.

In other running news, I signed up today for the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon. Today was the first day of registration, and I couldn't wait. I'm excited about it! I won't start really training until January, but it's nice to be on the schedule.

Day 497 -- Balloon

OK, I couldn't find any good local photos that I liked, so I just Googled "Utah," and found this pretty picture of a balloon over Mount Timpanogos, courtesy of National Geographic. Mount Timpanogos isn't too awfully far from here. It's in the Wasatch range, over by Provo, somewhat south and east of where I'm virtually running.

Day 497 was actually yesterday, but I never found time to blog. But then I slept in this morning, so I don't have to post two days in a row. I can just post Day 497, and you'll never know that it's a day late....

Tonight, the Packers are playing the Cowboys in a special Thursday night game. But, alas, the game is on the NFL network, which we don't get. I thought about going out to a bar, but the bars are going to be packed, because almost nobody gets the NFL network. It's not even an option with our cable package. So this will be the first game of the season that I don't see even a little bit of. It's a big game, too, since the Packers and the Cowboys have the best record in the NFC, so the winner will be on track to get the highest seed in the playoffs.

Day 496 -- Stansbury Island

Stansbury Island is in the Great Salt Lake, just north of where I'm running now. This terrific picture was taken by Ray Boren, and can be found (sans Jogger) at ScenicUtah.com.

I ran five miles this morning. I did a "tempo run" -- 10 laps slow, 10 laps faster, 10 laps pretty fast, and 10 laps back to medium speed. It felt good, and my overall speed for the five miles was pretty snappy.

Day 495 -- Grantsville

The students at Grantsville High School won an Ag Day Contest with this display, "American Agriculture Feeds the World." People who went to high school anyplace in the upper midwest will recognize the Future Farmers of America (FFA) jacket. I definitely saw many of those when I was in high school.

I ran an easy four miles today, inside at the gym. It was fine. I could have gone outside, but I didn't want to. I think I'll try to get to the gym again tomorrow. We'll see how I'm feeling.

Days 493 and 494 -- Tooele Army Depot

Better watch myself around here. I'm running somewhere near Tooele Army Depot, which seems to do some "neutralization" of atomic waste. I say "seems to," because it's kind of hard to get through the General Atomics web page. Here's a typical quote: "Under a cooperative effort between GA, Tooele Army Depot (TEAD), the Defense Ammunition Center (DAC), Tyndall Air Force Base (AFB), and the Joint Munitions Command, a Hydrolysis Production Prototype Plant (HPPP) was constructed at TEAD. This GA technology provides TEAD the ability to demil obsolete aluminum-bodied Cartridge Actuated Devices (CADs) in an environmentally friendly manner." OK. Wev.

I took Thursday off, as planned. I ran both Friday and Saturday, in fairly cold weather. Friday was late morning, about 10:00, and Saturday was early, about 6:00, but both were about 24 degrees (F). I'm glad I didn't try to run early Friday, because it was something like 15 overnight. Both runs were about 5 miles, and I felt pretty good about them. I really am addicted to running. I couldn't possibly have made it through the weekend without it.

It was a fun weekend. I took the kids and went down to visit Grandma Jogger. Mrs. J stayed here, because she had to work at the gallery. The kids were awfully well behaved. The boys got noisy at times, but they didn't fight too badly at all. We had some fun. The oldest and newest Little Jogger and I even went to a home football team for my alma mater, which is in the Division III playoffs. They won pretty easily. I enjoyed the game, but I'm out of practice in watching football without instant replay and super slo-mo and digital first-down lines.

Now it's back to work. Three more weeks of class, and then finals. I hope that the students are ready to work hard, because we will have to.

Day 492 -- Rowley Junction

Robert Klein Gallery has a nice photo of Highway 196, outside of Rowley Junction, Utah. The photo was taken by Jeff Brouws. I think it has a kind of a lonely grandeur. At least it did, before I entered the scene.

I went to the gym this morning, and did an easy four miles. I was kind of feeling my age, so I definitely didn't try to push the pace. But overall it was a good run.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, I'm going to load into the van with the Little Joggers and drive down to Grandma Jogger's house. We'll stay for two or three days. Mrs. Jogger is staying here, because she has to work at the Gallery on both Saturday and Sunday. I'm taking running clothes, in case the weather is good enough to run, but I'm not planning to take the laptop, so I might not blog for a couple of days. Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

Day 491 -- Burmester

About 10 miles west of Salt Lake City is the town of Burmester, Utah. Well, maybe it's a town. Lynn has it on her list of "named locations." She says, "In some cases, these locations may just be areas of a town/city with a distinct name, a named industrial site, a railroad stop or may just be a point of interest." So, anyway, here it is.

I ran five miles this morning. It wasn't too bad out, but the weather is turning nasty now. It's a cold drizzle out right now. So I probably won't get to run outside tomorrow. And the gym will be closed for the next four days (and I'll be out of town, weather permitting) so I need to get my miles in today and tomorrow, if I can.

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Day 490 -- Temple

I probably shouldn't leave Salt Lake City without visiting the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, popularly known as the Mormons. Here's their temple in Salt Lake City. It's a lovely building. Its six-spire design is suggestive of Gothic and other classical styles but unique, distinctive, and symbolic. Well, at least according to the web site.

I ran an easy 3.5 miles today. The first mile and a half, I ran with a friend of mine who lives over a block. I often see him in the morning, but usually we aren't going in the same direction. But today we were, and it was fun having someone to talk to. We talked about the Packers, and University politics, and kids, and all kinds of stuff. Then he turned off, and I ran two more miles, creaking and groaning the whole way.

Day 489 -- Salt Lake City

Another state capitol, so another chance to visit Frank. Frank, apparently never having heard of Photoshop, has visited all the state capitols in person and taken his photo in front of each one.

I ran a half marathon this morning, 13.1 miles. It wasn't terribly fast, but I felt pretty good about it. I wasn't struggling too badly at the end at all. In fact, I felt like I could have done more. Not that I did, or anything.

What a Week!

It's been a busy week, especially in the evenings. One or both of us has been out every night this week.

Monday it was conferences at the Middle School. We had to meet 6 teachers and talk to each of them about both girls. (Make that 7. They have different math teachers.) Mostly the messages were the same. The oldest and newest Little Jogger is smart but doesn't apply herself. She needs to stop chatting and pay attention. The first Little Jogger is smart but too hard on herself. She needs to stop getting frustrated over little setbacks.

Tuesday was the evening exam. So far, from what I've graded, the student who took almost four hours did pretty good. So at least I didn't stay up that late for an F.

Wednesday was my evening off. Mrs. Jogger had to work at the Gallery, which was having a special mid-week event. I stayed home and fantasized about being childless.

Thursday was a special congregational meeting. We have had a lot of division in our church since we got our new pastor a year ago. So the Bishop came down from Madison and conducted a special meeting. It was OK. Some feelings got aired and some apologies were offered. But we more or less ignored the major problem, which is that the pastor doesn't have the skills necessary to lead a congregation this size. Of course, that's being taken care of, as it is rapidly becoming a much smaller congregation.

Friday was the annual Hmong Thanksgiving dinner at the University. That's always a lot of fun. They usually have some sort of cultural program. This year, it was different generations of music, from the traditional to very modern stuff. The food was good, but there weren't a lot of vegetarian choices.

So today, I'm home with a stack of grading. The kids have places to go, so we'll be running them around. There may actually be a two-hour period this morning when my fantasy will come true!

Days 487 and 488 -- Wasatch-Cache National Forest

I'm out of shape. After taking Wednesday off, I went to the gym yesterday to run 6 miles. Six miles with no hills and no wind should have been easy. Wasn't. I made it, though. Then I slept in this morning, but I came home a little early and did four miles this afternoon. I'm feeling OK, but old. Sorry, not much in a mood to blog today. I'll try to get back on the stick tomorrow.

Day 486 -- Summit Park

Here I am at the weather observation station in Summit Park. It's a bit chilly around here. Although frankly, I kind of doubt it's quite this snowy on November 13.

Day 486 was actually yesterday. I got up and ran four miles in what was pretty good weather for November. I was pretty tired, so I was already thinking during the run that I would take today off. And after being up late last night, I had no trouble sleeping in this morning.

And why was I up late last night, you ask? I was giving an evening exam. My usual exam period is 6 - 9 pm, but I don't expect my students to take three hours. Most come at 6 and are done by 7:30 or 8. Some come later. So they can start at 7 and usually they are done by 9. But last night, one student took from 6 all the way to 10. Another student started later, but also stayed until 10. I think that it actually hurt that there were two of them. Each one could say, "Well, as long as that guy is here, I'm not really keeping Professor Jogger late."

The four hour student probably did actually use the time. I know this guy -- he comes in for help a lot -- and he does take a lot of time. Unlike many math students, he can sometimes spot his own mistakes and correct them. So I imagine that he improved his score between 9 and 10. The other student probably didn't. He hasn't been coming to class regularly, and he hasn't been doing the homework, and consequently he didn't know what he was doing. No amount of extra time on the exam was going to change that. But since I didn't want to kick the first student out, I didn't kick the other out, either.

Day 485 -- Kimball Junction

I visited the Rocky Mountain Roads web site quite a bit in western Wyoming and eastern Colorado, but I haven't hit them lately. I think it has to do with the Interstates. I just popped back onto I-80, after spending a lot of time running on lesser roads. Anyway, this is the exit from I-80 to Kimball Junction, which is about where I am after almost five more miles this morning.

Day 484 -- World Run Day

Happy World Run Day! World Run Day is the brainchild of Bill McDermott. This year, there are over 2000 participants around the world, including a certain Jogger in SW Wisconsin (or central Utah, depending on how you want to count me.) I ran 10 miles this morning. I was pretty tired at the end. The last mile was pretty much sheer will power. But I made it.

Day 483 -- Jordanelle State Park

When I was a wee slip of a lad, not yet a Jogger at all, my father used to go off to Isle Royale National Park camping. He'd come back with grainy black-and-white photos, and he'd always claim that there was a moose in them. "See that rock? There's a moose behind it....Just before I took this photo, the moose wandered out of the frame." So, this one is for you, Dad.

These moose live in Jordanelle State Park, in the Heber Valley.

I ran just three miles this morning. Mrs. Jogger had to get out early, so I had to be home and showered to get the kids out the door. But it was a good three miles, and I'm feeling OK this evening. I'm ready for a weekend. More than ready.

Classroom visitation

We're all busy visiting each other's classrooms at my university, as part of the peer review process. Both of my classes have been visited, and I have visited two other professors' classes. I've been thinking a little about the peer review process.

The first class that I visited was the Discrete Math class of one of my younger colleagues. I've visited his class before, and I expected this one to be good. I wasn't disappointed. It started out fine. I'm making little notes to myself about what I observed, and mentally sorting them for relevance. My philosophy of peer observation is that I don't want to comment on anything that is (a) a reasonable choice, even if not the one that I would have made, (b) peculiar to the particular lesson that I happened to see, or (c) out of the instructor's control. In other words, I'm trying to limit myself to reasonably constructive criticism. Anyway, after about half the class, he started in on a complicated proof of an important theorem. I knew this was going to be tough, and I was simply amazed at how well he pulled it off. He walked the students carefully through it, explained his thinking as he went along, got them to contribute key ideas, dealt with the inevitable side tracks, and just generally did it so much better than I have ever done it that I was amazed. I knew he was good, but this visit convinced me that he is fantastic.

The second visit didn't go quite so well. The professor I was observing is about the same level as I am. In fact, she's got one year seniority. Our relationship has always been tepid at best. And I knew from prior experience working with her that she isn't likely to take any advice from me at all. I'm not sure if she never takes advice from anyone, but she certainly doesn't from me. So I knew going into it that it was a waste of time. I wasn't going to see anything so terribly bad that it would be worth writing up to put in her file, and I wasn't going to come up with any helpful suggestions that she would actually take. The class itself was fine. I did come up with a couple of suggestions that I might have passed on to a different colleague, but with this person, I'm not going to bother.

I didn't think that the two days when I was observed went very well. They weren't total disasters, but I just felt kind of off. Only one of the observers has given me feedback, and it was more positive than I felt. I was flattered, but I didn't really feel like it was an accurate reflection of what I'd done.

So, what is the purpose of peer review? Can you learn much about a fellow instructor from sitting in on one class? You could certainly tell if they were terrible, but we don't have any terrible instructors in our department (at least, not as far as I know.) Can we really tell the good from the great? I don't know. I suppose it's better than never having anyone observed in action, but I don't know if we are really generating a clear picture of anyone's strengths and weaknesses from one visit a semester.

Day 482 -- Heber City

Today my post is pretty close in space, but a bit off in time. I'm just about to Heber City, getting fairly close to the outskirts of Salt Lake City. Here's a picture of the Olympic torch coming in to Heber City back in 2002. (Photo stolen from KSL-TV.) Frankly, I'm a bit cold.

As you no doubt guessed, I skipped my run yesterday. I meant to do it, but I couldn't drag myself out of bed. Today I did drag myself out of bed, and did over 7 miles, pretty much in penance. It felt pretty good. I went outside, even though the temperature is getting down towards freezing. My face got a little cold, but other than that, I was bundled up pretty well.

Days 480 and 481 -- Wallsburg

This fine piece of prime rib was raised by Coleman Limousin Ranch, Inc., and bought by Smart Style Limousin of Wallsburg, Utah. (Limousin, according to dictionary.com, is a breed of hardy French beef cattle.) His name is COLE Tank Jr., and he cost $92,000. The cool thing is that Coleman Limousin Ranch has a whole page thanking people for buying their bulls.

I ran four miles yesterday and another four today. Yesterday, I took it easy, but today, I ran a bit faster. In fact, I was a full four minutes faster over the four miles. Both runs were indoors, so there were no hills or anything to worry about.

Day 479 -- Bear

Here's a bear somewhere in Uinta National Forest. Uinta National Forest is all over this part of the state, so no clue whether I'm anywhere close to this guy, but I think that's OK.

I ran a little short of nine miles this morning, my longest run since the marathon. I felt pretty good, actually. It wasn't fast, but I still had energy at the end. My legs are pleasantly tired right now. We'll see how sore I am in the morning.

Day 478 -- Strawberry Reservoir

Here you see Justin Beus, justifiably proud of the cutthroat trout that he caught at Strawberry Reservoir. Not a whole lot of detail from the Beus family, actually. Just a few pictures. I'm not sure how old Justin is. But it looks like he had fun.

I ran five miles this morning. It was cold, but not too windy, so I was OK after I got warmed up. The glow lasted for most of the morning, but faded away as I got busy. It turned out to be a pretty stressful day, mitigated only by the fact that it was Friday. I brought home some grading, but I have no intention of starting it tonight.

Day 477 -- Soldier Summit

Soldier Summit, Utah, is another town listed in GhostTowns.com. It's about 10 miles south of highway 40, somewhere near where I'm running, now. The railway moved in 1930, and that was it for the town. Maybe. GhostTowns.com says in one place that no one lives here, but in another it says that there are a few current residents. I haven't run into anyone.

I ran four miles this morning. Novembrrrrr has come in with a bang. It was almost 20 degrees cooler this morning than yesterday. But I still ran outside.