Plato's Republic

Elaine has been needing some large Acco fasteners for some of her Genealogy material and not able to find any in Seward. When I noticed a box on the top shelf of our basement storage shelf that read, "Tony's College Papers", I thought, "I'll take the old papers and notes to the recycle center and give Elaine the Acco fasteners". My mistake was looking at the papers. The first one was from a Philosophy course that I took at UN-L in the Spring Semester of 1960. Our Text for the course was "Plato's Republic". Half of the final grade was based on class discussion and the final exam the balance. My 7 page, hand printed, final was on "Education". Needless to say, I sat down and read every word. I related Plato's ideals on education to what I believed was appropriate. I was 34 years old at the time with a wife and 4 children and had some definite ideas. Reading it was most interesting. I related some of it to Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" which is still appropriate. Elaine's Acco fasteners may come out of my many Math folders. Disposing of them will be doable but  it's going to be much more difficult with many of the other old papers and class notes. Incidentally, I got an 8 on the course in a gradings  system of 1-9 with 9 high. 

Tenneco, Inc.

Tenneco is a global manufacturing company that produces products as shown in the picture. Our Seward plant is a major segment of their organization. World wide they employ some 24,000 employees with over 800 of them here in the Seward facility. Exhaust systems are produced here for John Deere, Caterpillar, Harley Davidson, etc. Last night at the Chamber of Commerce Extravaganza, I had the pleasure of presenting a plaque to a representative of the local plant. While we recognize their importance in the community for Economic Development, The Award from the First Impression's Committee was for their Dedication to Environmental Stewardship. They not only produce products that help protect the environment but produce them in a very environment friendly manner.  Likewise they are very protective of  employee safety and their welfare. We are fortunate to have them in our community.

Seward HS Girls Basketball

I got up to the HS yesterday evening to see the girls beat Schuyler 74-36 and again mid-afternoon  to see them beat Waverly 50-34. Both games were closer than the score would indicate. Last night 6'2" Kourteney Zadina "couldn't miss" 3- point shots and finished with 28 points. They also had a 6'2' girl who is a very good athlete. I walked out of the gym right behind her after the game to realize just how tall and well proportioned she is. This afternoon Waverly led 11-10 after the first quarter. Fortunately, today Hannah Tvrdy (UN-L recruit) was on target and scored 23 points. Taylor Seaman scored 10 today and one of them was a mid-court 3-pointer at the end of the first half when the buzzer went off while the ball was on its way to the basket. Waverly also has a 6'2' girl that's a Junior with a 6'0" sister who is a Freshman. Seward will really be at a loss next year for height. We do have a 6'0" 9th grader on the JV team who played some last night and a couple others that will be 5'11" Seniors. It is amazing to me how well coordinated these tall girls are and how much athletics has helped their confidence. I remember some 35-40 years ago when some people had a girl go through surgery to curtail her height. I've often wondered how such operations effected people in later life. We have made progress in medicine as well as social justice.

Old Entertainment Center

In my continuing efforts to get used to my new camera, I took a number of pictures in our basement this pm. I didn't straighten up anything but just shot it as it was. I am going to make some setting changes as a result of my "practice". All of the 20+ pictures confirm Elaine's comments about need to get rid of "stuff". The exercise bike is one thing that might go. It's not that I don't need the exercise but I can hear my left knee click on every revolution. That's enough to discourage serious peddling. We have had the exercise machine for a number of years and it does provide arm exercise as well as the legs and more importantly, the respiratory system. 

Lincoln Urology Center

Elaine and I met with Dr. Henslee at the Lincoln Urology Center in Lincoln this morning. We were concerned that my PSA number had gone up at the December test. He has been my specialist for the past 20 years after my prostectomy. He recommended a continuation of "no treatment" at this time which was Good News. We had lunch at Culver's in Lincoln and stopped on the way home to wish Julie a Happy Birthday. Carolyn came soon after we stopped with eclairs so we had a little birthday party. We got a 4-generation picture and Sadie was her usual happy self. Its been a drizzly day here today but fortunately the temperature has been above freezing.

Reader's Digest

Our January Reader's Digest came the other day as it has for the past few months. We have no memory of subscribing to it but maybe it came along with one we did order. The only thing similar to the old Reader's Digest is it's name. I first became acquainted with the Digest  when it was on the magazine rack at Garland HS. Back in those days it contained no advertising. The index of the 30 condensed articles (one for each day of the month) was printed on the front cover. After HS we subscribed to it and I read nearly every article. I herded cows a lot and would read while the cows grazed. We subscribed to it even in our early years of marriage. My reading time was much less as the kids came along so I started saving the issues that I hadn't read. I have a distinct memory of making a decision that we wouldn't move the collection to Lincoln with us. It may have been about that time that we let our subscription lapse. With my working and taking college classes, there was little time for magazine reading, even in a condensed form. It isn't surprising that they had to go to advertising to meet the cost of publication but what makes me wonder is, "How were they able to publish the magazine back in the '40's without the advertising revenue?". 

Concordia Girls Basketball

My friend Ralph picked me up this evening and we saw the Concordia girls beat Hastings 76-57. It was a good game and much closer than the score indicates. The Hastings Broncos led most of the first half with the Concordia Bulldogs getting  a 22-21 lead at half time. The Broncos closed to within 3 points with about 7 minutes to go after the "Dogs" had built a 12 point lead. Kelsey made 7 points within a minute and the Bulldogs pulled away. Concordia is now 16-1 for the season and were ranked #1 in the NAIA standings prior to their one loss in 2 overtimes at Dordt on January 5th. One of the girls on the Seward HS team that graduated last spring with having won 101 consecutive games, is on the CU team. Jenna, #40 in the picture is a 6-2" freshman from Albion, NE and one of the starting 5. Most of the girls are from small Nebraska towns and were "stars" in HS. They have made the transition to the "next level" and certainly demonstrate the ability and dedication to be Champions. We're lucky to have this quality of entertainment available to us in our small town.