Sunday, January 30, 2011
SSSlllllllooooowwww Eater
Aren't the Valentine's Day decorations nice! Sam enjoyed them during the 2 hours he sat here for dinner. We remember this stage with Zach and don't fight it with Sam. We all eat together and then get up and leave Sam there to talk to himself, sing to himself, smile at himself in the window while slowly eating. We clean up the kitchen, vacuum and make lunch for the next day while he just sits there. Strange....very strange!
McDonalds
We had been inside all weekend and were starting to go a little stir crazy. Doug was done with the boat show, so we decided to meet him at McDonalds for a Happy Meal. Zach enjoyed going, but still isn't feeling like himself. He ate part of a hamburger, but then wanted to go home for a nap.
Sam, ever the clown, was chatty and ate everything in sight. He was quite pleased with the Tonka truck toy in the Happy Meal. Time to head home....nap time for everyone!
Sam, ever the clown, was chatty and ate everything in sight. He was quite pleased with the Tonka truck toy in the Happy Meal. Time to head home....nap time for everyone!Boat Show - Tour 2
All Zach could talk about all week was the big boat show at the convention center. Doug and Dustin went on Friday afternoon - Cecile and I were worried. The two of them together can be an expensive thing! Today Karl, Frank and Doug were going to go. Zach was also going with, but still wasn't feeling well and was sleeping when Doug left. The boys had a good time....and I am sure have a list of items they want, but they didn't spend any money today which is a good thing!
Heinz Russelmann
NORMAL — Heinz Russelmann, 86, Normal, folded his tent and silently stole away Saturday (Jan. 8, 2011) at the McLean County Nursing Home, Normal.
Born in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, he immigrated to the United States as an infant and spent his child and young adulthood in New York City. The streets of New York were his playground and nurtured his creativity and lifelong love of cultural, visual and performing arts, especially music. Heinz was an accomplished pianist and was especially fond of ragtime, musicals and classical music. He also expressed his creativity through photography, travel, art, crafts and his many home improvement projects.
Heinz served in the U.S. Army as a lieutenant during World War II, graduated from New York University with a bachelor’s degree in sanitary engineering followed many years later by a master’s of public health from the University of Michigan. He devoted his professional career to promoting environmental quality, most notably water quality. His career included many years of service with the State of New York Health Department. After retiring from the State of New York, he taught part time at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and furthered the protection of water quality through employment with the National Sanitation Foundation and later, the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments. Most rewarding to him, however, were the years he spent directing the environmental health program at Illinois State University; teaching, mentoring and inspiring the hundreds of students whose lives he had the privilege to touch.
Heinz served in many capacities with professional and governmental organizations at the local, state and national levels. He was also active in the Vladimer/Canterbury Sister City Association of Bloomington-Normal, taught English as a second language, and enjoyed and supported the Normal Theater and the Heartland Theatre Company.
Heinz is survived by his wife of 65 years, Margaret; his daughters and sons-in-law, Lenore and Dan Kathan, Ithaca, N.Y., and Anita and Jim Eidson, Rockwall, Texas; and his three grandchildren, Megan Alvarez and James and Elizabeth Eidson.
Heinz Russelmann was the Environmental Health program director during my years at ISU. He was a great mentor who always pushed me to do my best and had the utmost confidence that I would go on to do great things. Heinz came from an "older era" when women usually went into the Public Health Departments or teaching, there were times that I don't think he quite understood my fascination with big business, manufacturing plants, etc.
In 1996, I was one of 2 recipients of the first Heinz Russelmann scholarship. It was quite an honor! I hadn't attended the department awards ceremony that night as I was out on an Outdoor Program trip and didn't know that I was to be awarded something. Heinz was really disappointed that, when he called my name, I wasn't there to accept the award. I wish I would have known, I would have made sure to have been there and I am sure my parents would have come from Sycamore for the night.
May 1996 - graduation
Dr. Kelli McCormick-Brown, Department of Health Sciences Chair & Heinz Russelmann.
I believe this was at an end of year celebration. I wish now that I had written more information on the pictures in the album. I remember that it was at a restaurant in downtown Bloomington.
A group of us with Heinz. My good friend, Brian Holtz, is standing behind me.
Heinz and his wife, Margaret. They were married 65 years!
Brian and me at the party. Brian is one of a few that I am still in contact with, on Facebook of all places! Brian works for a large recycling company in Iowa.
Heinz was at our wedding - sitting on the left side of the picture. I didn't find any other pictures of him in our wedding album. Heinz and Margaret gave me a beautiful crystal bowl that we have in our kitchen china cabinets.
Our good friend from the Outdoor Program, Georgi, is best friends with Margaret. Over the years, I have kept up on what Heinz is up to and he has kept up on me via Georgi. What a great guy and mentor. I am thankful for his support all those years ago which helped to set me up for a wonderful and successful career.
Born in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, he immigrated to the United States as an infant and spent his child and young adulthood in New York City. The streets of New York were his playground and nurtured his creativity and lifelong love of cultural, visual and performing arts, especially music. Heinz was an accomplished pianist and was especially fond of ragtime, musicals and classical music. He also expressed his creativity through photography, travel, art, crafts and his many home improvement projects.
Heinz served in the U.S. Army as a lieutenant during World War II, graduated from New York University with a bachelor’s degree in sanitary engineering followed many years later by a master’s of public health from the University of Michigan. He devoted his professional career to promoting environmental quality, most notably water quality. His career included many years of service with the State of New York Health Department. After retiring from the State of New York, he taught part time at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and furthered the protection of water quality through employment with the National Sanitation Foundation and later, the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments. Most rewarding to him, however, were the years he spent directing the environmental health program at Illinois State University; teaching, mentoring and inspiring the hundreds of students whose lives he had the privilege to touch.
Heinz served in many capacities with professional and governmental organizations at the local, state and national levels. He was also active in the Vladimer/Canterbury Sister City Association of Bloomington-Normal, taught English as a second language, and enjoyed and supported the Normal Theater and the Heartland Theatre Company.
Heinz is survived by his wife of 65 years, Margaret; his daughters and sons-in-law, Lenore and Dan Kathan, Ithaca, N.Y., and Anita and Jim Eidson, Rockwall, Texas; and his three grandchildren, Megan Alvarez and James and Elizabeth Eidson.
Heinz Russelmann was the Environmental Health program director during my years at ISU. He was a great mentor who always pushed me to do my best and had the utmost confidence that I would go on to do great things. Heinz came from an "older era" when women usually went into the Public Health Departments or teaching, there were times that I don't think he quite understood my fascination with big business, manufacturing plants, etc. In 1996, I was one of 2 recipients of the first Heinz Russelmann scholarship. It was quite an honor! I hadn't attended the department awards ceremony that night as I was out on an Outdoor Program trip and didn't know that I was to be awarded something. Heinz was really disappointed that, when he called my name, I wasn't there to accept the award. I wish I would have known, I would have made sure to have been there and I am sure my parents would have come from Sycamore for the night.
May 1996 - graduation
Dr. Kelli McCormick-Brown, Department of Health Sciences Chair & Heinz Russelmann.
I believe this was at an end of year celebration. I wish now that I had written more information on the pictures in the album. I remember that it was at a restaurant in downtown Bloomington.
Brian and me at the party. Brian is one of a few that I am still in contact with, on Facebook of all places! Brian works for a large recycling company in Iowa.
Heinz was at our wedding - sitting on the left side of the picture. I didn't find any other pictures of him in our wedding album. Heinz and Margaret gave me a beautiful crystal bowl that we have in our kitchen china cabinets.Our good friend from the Outdoor Program, Georgi, is best friends with Margaret. Over the years, I have kept up on what Heinz is up to and he has kept up on me via Georgi. What a great guy and mentor. I am thankful for his support all those years ago which helped to set me up for a wonderful and successful career.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Get out the Kilz
Doug started on the German flags for the upcoming Fur Rondy float. A coat of Kilz is needed on the side panels before the colors go on.
Happy 4th Birthday Eli!
Eli's birthday party was today. A shark party....shark cake, pin the tail on the shark, fishing for items (a friend in a box putting items on the line), pinata and lots of fun. Poor Zach, he still wasn't feeling well and ended up sleeping the whole afternoon away. Doug and Sam had a good time at the party and brought Zach home a piece of cake.
Happy 4th Birthday Eli!
Happy 4th Birthday Eli!Sam's Room Remodel
Sam has never had a really fun room. When Zach was born, Doug did up the cutest sailboat room for him. We didn't get to use that room very long as we moved, but Zach's room in the new house was already painted with a Twinkle Twinkle Star theme from the previous owners. The room that Sam got when he was born was plain white. The room was too full of furniture as we had the crib in addition to a twin daybed with trundle in there. The daybed had been in the 4th bedroom in the Houston house, but now that we have 3 bedrooms, Sam's room got all the furniture.
One good thing about wanting to sell furniture in Alaska is that you can get high prices for it. Furniture here is expensive due the freight shipping costs. We sold the crib in about a week for top dollar. I had found the daybed receipt a few weeks ago and we had bought it 2/15/01. So, 10 years ago when we lived on Pioneer Drive. The daybed frame had been almost $300; the 2 mattresses and trundle bed mechanism were in addition. We sold the daybed frame for $200. $10 per year for use - not bad!
Doug painted 1 wall yellow and 1 orange. The ceiling is blue with white clouds. A new ceiling light finished off the look. Sam loves the bunk bed - "bonk bed" as he says it. It is a comfy bed, we really like the mattress we bought for the lower bunk.
Some completed pictures - Doug did a great job! What a FUN room!
The Lego website has free posters and sticker templates that can be downloaded and printed. I had printed a while ago 3 posters in standard paper size and framed them. For Sam's room remodel, I printed the stickers on full paper size Avery sticker labels and then mounted them to foam board. The trucks, boats and people were then cut out and put on the wall with poster mounting squares. They look really fun in the room.
One good thing about wanting to sell furniture in Alaska is that you can get high prices for it. Furniture here is expensive due the freight shipping costs. We sold the crib in about a week for top dollar. I had found the daybed receipt a few weeks ago and we had bought it 2/15/01. So, 10 years ago when we lived on Pioneer Drive. The daybed frame had been almost $300; the 2 mattresses and trundle bed mechanism were in addition. We sold the daybed frame for $200. $10 per year for use - not bad!
Doug painted 1 wall yellow and 1 orange. The ceiling is blue with white clouds. A new ceiling light finished off the look. Sam loves the bunk bed - "bonk bed" as he says it. It is a comfy bed, we really like the mattress we bought for the lower bunk.
Some completed pictures - Doug did a great job! What a FUN room!
The Lego website has free posters and sticker templates that can be downloaded and printed. I had printed a while ago 3 posters in standard paper size and framed them. For Sam's room remodel, I printed the stickers on full paper size Avery sticker labels and then mounted them to foam board. The trucks, boats and people were then cut out and put on the wall with poster mounting squares. They look really fun in the room.
Baby Day at Church
Our church was having a "baby/toddler" meet and greet day in the Triangle Room today. There are 33 children under age 2 in the church family. Sam and I went over to see what activities were going on. We talked to his Sunday school teacher and got an update on her college courses. Unfortunately, when we were there, most of the kids were babies. There wasn't anyone Sam's age to play with. The gym was being set-up for Grace Christian's School Winter Dance. I could just picture the high school kids all dressed up coming for a dance, it was really pretty in there. So, we were glad that we went, but didn't stay long especially since we couldn't run around and play with balls in the gym.
Flags
Doug ordered on-line 4 German flags with stands that hook on car windows. They will be fun for the upcoming Fur Rondy parade. He then found on the site a German flag scarf for Zach and a "ball and chain" boat flag! The "ball and chain" flag is to represent "wife on board" - ha, ha very funny. The yearly "guys" camping weekend is coming up in 3 weeks. It is called the Ball and Chain weekend as the guy who has the most trouble either getting permission to go or who doesn't go for family/work issues gets the "ball and chain" award. This year the cabin will have a flag to celebrate those who were able to get away from their "ball and chain"!
Friday, January 28, 2011
Not Feeling Well
When I picked up Zach from school today he said he didn't feel very well. He didn't eat much for dinner and then took a long nap in the evening. When he got up, he took a long bath and then slept well all night. Hopefully he will feel better in the morning. Doug entertained him during his bath with information on the Garmin GPS systems he picked up at the boat show today.
Inside Out and Backwards
Friday was inside out and backwards clothes day at Zach's school. I couldn't imagine wearing my clothes this way all day, but he did!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
The Day of the Race
Well, tonight was the big Pinewood Derby race! If you have been following the blog then you know 1) Doug helped Cecile and Sarah build cars for Ian and Jacob 2) the car that Doug built for Ian was made from a "scrap" of wood that was remaining from the car built for Zach 3) during the trial runs last week that Ian's car beat Zach's 4) that we made another trip to the hobby shop for another wood block and 5) that Doug built a whole new car. So, Doug will have to tell the whole story, but in a nut shell. The painful outcome of the event was that Zach's car smoked the other cars in the first 2 rounds of the race. Then, as it worked out, Zach and Ian's cars were to race against each other. Doug vs Doug, it was a terrible scenario. Unfortunately, Zach's car lost to Ian's. Ian was cheering, Zach was crying; life is rough. So, Ian ended up winning the 3rd place medal and Doug has already been on U-Tube watching videos on how to make the wheels go faster! All in all, everyone had a fun time. It was a nice event. Doug sure did a nice job on Zach's car, it is beautiful. Next time just don't do the others cars as well!
Doug here to narrate a bit on the big race day. First thing we did when we checked in was to get out car weighed. As I put the car on the scale, I noticed it was over weight. The cars need to be exactly 5 oz., and ours weighed 5.35 oz. Not a big deal, I thought that our car may be a tad heavy. I had purchased special tungsten weight for the car, and the weight had the neat feature of being removable. You use an allen wrench to "screw" the weight in. So when the car weighed in heavy, all I had to do was take the wheel off and put in a smaller amount of weight. I wanted to be as close as I could to 5 oz, so I had to go through the process of weighting the car, and weighing it, three times. In the end though I got it right at 5.o. Perfect!
I was happy with how the car turned out. Of course the paint job is suppose to mimmic the German flag. It turned out good, and Zach really liked it. The car is a combination of three separate car designs. I took two design elements from a Pinewood Derby magazine I picked up at Lowes, I then combined those elements with design features that Dad had incorporated in a car he made me back in my Cub Scout days. The whole project was a bit rushed, I had one week to complete the car from start to finish. This was due to me building a second car after the first one preformed poorly at time trials.
Before the big race all of the cars were lined up to be judged in different categories. I think the categories were" "What car looks the fastest", "most creative", and something like best paint job. The kids were given three different colored chips, each one representing a category, and the kid had to place the chips in the cup of the car they liked the best. Zach was excited because his car got two blue chips and a red one. I have no idea what that means, but he was happy that someone liked his car.
After the voting, we took a few minutes before the big race for pizza. Fortunately the Scouts had ordered plenty of pizza, and there was enough to go around. Everyone had full stomach's for watching the big race.
The cars were given labels (Zach's was T13), and then placed on the table prior to the race. No graphite could be added to the cars once they were on the table. The organizers took the race very seriously!
The track at the Pinewood Derby was made out of wood, three lanes wide, and about 30 feet long. There was a timer at the end to record 1st and 2nd place finishes. The towels at the end catch the cars as they cross the finish line. The track looked home made and came in sections. Only two cars were raced at a time, and each car would race it's rival three times each heat. The cars were rotated so there were no lane advantages.
Sarah and one of the other scout's dad. I raced the guy in the backgrounds car for our first race. His car was super cool looking. It had a pirate on it, "gold" coins, and a neat paint job. Only problem with the car was that it was a "dog" on the track. We raced past his car like is was standing still on each of the races in the heat.
Sam hung out near the start with Cecile. Cecile's car was also doing well at the track. Her first race was a bit harder than ours, with one of the heats declared a tie. Because it was early in the race, it was hard to tell which cars were truly fast, and which ones were not so much. From our early victories I got the impression that our car was running well, and I was starting to formulate my . . . Zach's winning speech.
I had the video camera out recording all of the high-points of the race. We were doing well. Two races won, and the competitors were being narrowed down.
Dustin's had been out of town with work for the past three weeks, so I agreed to help Cecile with her son's car. It was actually made with the leftover wood from my first car "Drago". The combination of the size of the left over wood, and my newness in carving cars from a block of wood, ended up with Cecile's car resembling a lady's shoe. I called it the shoe car. Unfortunatly, whatever the car lacked in looks, it made up for it in speed. Our two cars were to be matched up for our cars third race. I guess I thought that this might be an easy victory. Well . . . it turned out it wasn't. We lost all three races . . . to the shoe car. Zach was pretty up set, I was still in shock, but Dustin and Cecile were pretty stoked. I guess they needed a win more than we did that day. Cecile was truly sorry, but very thankful that I had helped her build their car. Their car ended up taking third that night. Not a bad accomplishment considering some of the stiff competition.
Zach eventually got over his loss. The car got dropped down to the losers bracket, were it lost it's next race as well. Axle's, it's al in the Axles. Next year I will spend more time with polishing the axles. Some of the fastest cars were not much more than blocks of wood on wheels. They were fast though. I have already been checking out You-Tube videos focusing on the best method for polishing axles.
We had a good run and learned a lot. Zach learned a valuable lesson on sportsmanship, and I learned a bit on what makes a winning car. We are already making plans for next year. We have our work cut out for us with polishing axles!!
Doug here to narrate a bit on the big race day. First thing we did when we checked in was to get out car weighed. As I put the car on the scale, I noticed it was over weight. The cars need to be exactly 5 oz., and ours weighed 5.35 oz. Not a big deal, I thought that our car may be a tad heavy. I had purchased special tungsten weight for the car, and the weight had the neat feature of being removable. You use an allen wrench to "screw" the weight in. So when the car weighed in heavy, all I had to do was take the wheel off and put in a smaller amount of weight. I wanted to be as close as I could to 5 oz, so I had to go through the process of weighting the car, and weighing it, three times. In the end though I got it right at 5.o. Perfect!
I was happy with how the car turned out. Of course the paint job is suppose to mimmic the German flag. It turned out good, and Zach really liked it. The car is a combination of three separate car designs. I took two design elements from a Pinewood Derby magazine I picked up at Lowes, I then combined those elements with design features that Dad had incorporated in a car he made me back in my Cub Scout days. The whole project was a bit rushed, I had one week to complete the car from start to finish. This was due to me building a second car after the first one preformed poorly at time trials. Before the big race all of the cars were lined up to be judged in different categories. I think the categories were" "What car looks the fastest", "most creative", and something like best paint job. The kids were given three different colored chips, each one representing a category, and the kid had to place the chips in the cup of the car they liked the best. Zach was excited because his car got two blue chips and a red one. I have no idea what that means, but he was happy that someone liked his car.
After the voting, we took a few minutes before the big race for pizza. Fortunately the Scouts had ordered plenty of pizza, and there was enough to go around. Everyone had full stomach's for watching the big race.
The cars were given labels (Zach's was T13), and then placed on the table prior to the race. No graphite could be added to the cars once they were on the table. The organizers took the race very seriously!
The track at the Pinewood Derby was made out of wood, three lanes wide, and about 30 feet long. There was a timer at the end to record 1st and 2nd place finishes. The towels at the end catch the cars as they cross the finish line. The track looked home made and came in sections. Only two cars were raced at a time, and each car would race it's rival three times each heat. The cars were rotated so there were no lane advantages. 
Sarah and one of the other scout's dad. I raced the guy in the backgrounds car for our first race. His car was super cool looking. It had a pirate on it, "gold" coins, and a neat paint job. Only problem with the car was that it was a "dog" on the track. We raced past his car like is was standing still on each of the races in the heat. 
Sam hung out near the start with Cecile. Cecile's car was also doing well at the track. Her first race was a bit harder than ours, with one of the heats declared a tie. Because it was early in the race, it was hard to tell which cars were truly fast, and which ones were not so much. From our early victories I got the impression that our car was running well, and I was starting to formulate my . . . Zach's winning speech. 
I had the video camera out recording all of the high-points of the race. We were doing well. Two races won, and the competitors were being narrowed down. 
Dustin's had been out of town with work for the past three weeks, so I agreed to help Cecile with her son's car. It was actually made with the leftover wood from my first car "Drago". The combination of the size of the left over wood, and my newness in carving cars from a block of wood, ended up with Cecile's car resembling a lady's shoe. I called it the shoe car. Unfortunatly, whatever the car lacked in looks, it made up for it in speed. Our two cars were to be matched up for our cars third race. I guess I thought that this might be an easy victory. Well . . . it turned out it wasn't. We lost all three races . . . to the shoe car. Zach was pretty up set, I was still in shock, but Dustin and Cecile were pretty stoked. I guess they needed a win more than we did that day. Cecile was truly sorry, but very thankful that I had helped her build their car. Their car ended up taking third that night. Not a bad accomplishment considering some of the stiff competition. 
Zach eventually got over his loss. The car got dropped down to the losers bracket, were it lost it's next race as well. Axle's, it's al in the Axles. Next year I will spend more time with polishing the axles. Some of the fastest cars were not much more than blocks of wood on wheels. They were fast though. I have already been checking out You-Tube videos focusing on the best method for polishing axles. 
We had a good run and learned a lot. Zach learned a valuable lesson on sportsmanship, and I learned a bit on what makes a winning car. We are already making plans for next year. We have our work cut out for us with polishing axles!!The final score sheet for the big race. Now I know who to put in my sights for next years victory.
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