Started out as a rainy day today..  Gabe had two Lacrosse games.. we watched most of the first in pouring rain. Even so, it was nice sitting out there under our umbrella and watching the kids play.  There weren’t many other spectators because of the weather.. so I was glad we we were there.. There’s wasn’t anyone else to take our picture, but I managed to get this picture of us holding the camera in my toes and using the self timer..

The guys came in second both games… They played very well though. Gabe had a very good day. the season is almost over, it’s been great seeing how much each of the players hand the team itself has improved.

It was our turn to bring the oranges.. Diane and I each cut half.. she cut hers latitudinally while I cut mine  longitudinally. I did a quick survey at the half and determining that folks liked them roughly equally.. Maybe we should write a psychology paper on this.

The rest of the day was very quiet. Diane did some more work in the garden.. I did some odd job repairs on the house and the pool. while I was downloading a hacked version of  Linux on to a linksys network storage adapter. My hope is to make this thing into a wireless music system for the prius.

I took Chai for a late afternoon run.. and that was basically my day.. not much happened.. and I loved it.

What I really wanted to write about today was a wonderful thing that  friend’s of ours daughter did in Sam’s honor. Kirsten A is the daughter of our good friends Carl and Brynn. Kirsten teaches school at Wendell Smith Public School in inner city Chicago. She’s also getting married soon !

She’s made a name for her self for getting her kids interested in school..and science in particular.  We met once in Austin and traded ideas or our favorite science demos. Anyway.. Kirstin took a SamStone into her classroom one day and told her kids the story of Sam.. She gave them the SamStones Website to look at…

The kids then sat down and each wrote us the nicest letters.  (I see Carl in the upper left of this picture !)

They told us about the losses they had seen in their lives. . Many of the kids had lost someone close to them. There were some really sad stories in there. More than that, though, there was real caring and good wishes for us. These kids were wishing us peace and healing in the nicest way..

Here are just a few of the cards they wrote us..

Getting these made feel really good. it’s a sad subject.. yet it’s so nice to know that folks in a completely different part of the country would care enough to do this for us.

Thanks to all you kids’ of Ms. Anderson’s class at Wendell Smith..  It was really so great to get your letters.. It really cheered up my whole family.  I hope I get a chance to get out there one of these days and do some crazy science with you. !

OK.. that’s all for tonight.. more in the morning.. Gnite all. Gnite Sam !
-me

ps. happy Birthday aunt Shaun.. Sorry I’m off by a day.. We love you !