Tonight was the final chance the school board of cabell county had to name the replacement for Dr. Borowski. While my name was technically still in the hat I think only a fool would have thought I was still in consideration after last week. However, I still wanted to see what happened and I wanted to see the resolution so I suited up and headed to the board meeting tonight.

The first fifty minutes or so were held in executive session where the board discussed some property issues then they emerged to make their big decision for the night - who would get the fifth seat?

Barr and Holly both made it obvious last week that they really wanted Duncan even if they never nominated him or said a word in his favor. Furthermore, Barr, in a newspaper article, made it sound like tonights events would resume exactly where they left off (an impasse on Duncan).

I was prepared for the worst going in but hopeful for something better and Mrs. Oxley carried a torch of hope as well. She proposed that each board member put forth their top 3 candidates, then the board could discuss positives and minuses. Mrs. Holley didn't like the sound of that because she was afraid she would offend someone while talking about their negatives. Eventually Superintendant Smith suggested they each put forth their top two and then only discuss positives. The board agreed to proceed with that plan.

Mrs Oxley nominated Steve Thomas and Carla Parker. Mr. Thomas nominated Mary Neely and Carla Parker. Mr. Barr nominated Rick Duncan and Mary Neely. Mrs. Holley nominated Rick Duncan and Nancy Newfeld. Then each board member went around in turn and explained what they liked about their two people. All four made a great case for their two candidates so it seemed only a matter of time before they would reach consensus on one of them.

Sadly a consensus was not in the plans; at least not an official one. Eventually, after listening to Mr Barr ramble a bit and talk about Horse races and call me out specifically in reference to them, Mrs. Oxley suggested that because there were three candidates left with two supporters each (Duncan, Neely, and Parker) that the four board members should name their top two of those three.

Mrs. Holley named Duncan and Neely. Barr named Duncan and Neely. Thomas named Neely and Parker. Finally Oxley named Parker and Neely. All four were suddenly agreeing that they thought Mrs Neely would be a good choice! A final decision seemed eminent but it was not to be. No, Holley lamented that they had reached an impasse again and Barr started to ramble again. Fortunately, Mrs Oxley stepped up again and suggested they compromise on the one candidate that all four agreed on. The audience grumbled their support of that idea. Even Mrs. Holley seemed to agree with the idea so she proposed an odd solution; vote out Duncan and Parker and then they would all, obviously agree on Neely.

Oxley nominated Parker (seconded by Thomas) and she was voted down 2-2. Then for some reason Thomas nominated Neely and there was a mass of confusion on the stage so they started over. Again, Parker was nominated by Oxley (seconded by Thomas) and shot down 2-2. Then Holley nominated Duncan and it all we needed was for Barr to accept defeat and nominate Duncan. He wouldn't and no vote occurred. Mrs Holley then complained that the other two wouldn't nominate Duncan - it was as if she couldn't just give Mr. Barr a piece of her mind.

Eventually Mrs. Neely was nominated by Thomas and seconded by Oxley. She was voted down 2-2! What the heck? Why didn't Holley vote for Neely since that was what she was trying to setup anyway by getting Duncan voted out? The impasse was breakable but instead it was just fortified. I was dismayed at Barr for refusing to give up on Duncan and I was saddened by Holley for not just being the champion and voting for Neely.

Mrs. Holley then complained about how she thought it sucked that Duncan wouldn't be voted on and I suggested she look at her partner sine Duncan was his man. At this point both Holley and Barr took offense to my interruption and seemed to suggest I leave so I stood, walked to the front of the room, thanked Holley for at least trying, and then told Mr. Barr that he is a disgrace.

The board had a good opportunity to pick a candidate and show that they can come to a consensus. They had made it easy for themselves by all agreeing with Mrs. Neely in their final two - yet, sadly, Barr just could do it. He could't step up and accept the situation and instead he stubbornly dug in his heels.

I tried to get on the board because I thought I could help but at this point I'm glad I wasn't chosen. I do not think I would enjoy working with Mr Barr and I do not feel he has the County's best interest at heart; instead he seems more concerned with his pride. It was a sad day for Cabell County.

#Commentary #MyLife

Tonight was the night.  The night where the Cabell County Board of Education was scheduled to select the candidate to fill the vacant position left after Dr. Borowski resigned last month.  There were eight candidates to choose from, myself included, and four board members who had to reach a consensus.

The board currently consists of Mr. Barr (president), Mrs. Oxley, Mr. Thomas, and Mrs. Holley  who is basically just a puppet of Mr. Barr.  As you can see by this balance Mr. Barr, with two votes, entered the night with a significant advantage in placing his candidate of choice while Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Oxley were, in reality, left wasting their time considering the eligible candidates.

The board meeting was fairly long but nothing unreasonable and the selection process was scheduled as the last item on the agenda.  The process began at aproximately 10:15pm.   The procedure outlined by Mr. Barr was that a board member had to nominate a candidate then, if he or she had a second, the board would vote.  If the candidate didn't get three votes he or she would be elminated from consideration.

Mr. Barr and his puppet refused to nominate anyone leaving Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Oxley to put their necks out for candidates only to have them rapid fire shot down by Mr. Barr and Mrs. Holley.  It was a, for all intents and purposes, a waste of everyones time.

Suprisingly, I was one of the final two candidates left and neither Mr. Thomas nor Mrs Oxley seemed keen on putting out my name only to see it shot down. However, eventually, Mr. Thomas succumed to the dead silence of the board and nominated me.  Mrs. Oxley seconded and the vote occured resulting in a draw at  2-2; I was eliminated.

Only one candidate remained, Mr. Rick Duncan - Mr. Barr's preferred candidate (though he refused to ever say who his candidate was, only that he had one).  Yet neither Mr. Barr nor his puppet would nominate him.  Mr. Barr had backed himself into a corner because, if his candidate were to be eliminated he would be removed from all consideration.  Thus, if Mr. Barr were to nominate him he ran the risk of Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Oxley voting against him.   Thus, Mr. Barr hoped that one of those two would put forth the final nomination in order to bring about closure.   Mr. Barr obviously thought that the nominator would thus feel forced to also vote for the candidate and hence he would get the 3 vote majority.

It was a mockery of a process.  We reached the point where there was just one candidate left at about 10:50 yet the meeting didn't adjourn, with no decision made, until after 11:30.  Mr. Barr just sat there hoping one of the other two would fall for his gambit.  Mr. Barr also arrogantly dismissed every comment made by the watching public and refused comment whenever he didn't like a question.

Eventually, I had had enough.  Mr. Barr insisted the process was similar to a race and that in all races there had to be winners and losers; yet at this point there was only one horse left in the race and Mr. Barr wouldn't even enter him into it.  I asked Mr. Barr for clarification on what he thought was the minimum number of contestants required to run a race; he said he didn't know.  The president of the school board claimed he didn't know what constituted a race.  I was disappointed to learn this man is in charge of our county's educational policies.

A citizen who had sent in emails on behalf of another candidate asked Mr. Barr why he hadn't responded to her email and he claimed he didn't know how to use email.  Yet, later in the meeting he told me he would send me an email once he knew what a race was.  So either he lied to the citizen earlier about not knowing how to use email or he just wasn't bothered with responding to her.  I would bet the later.

It was obvious, very early on, that some candidates were just going to be dismissed without consideration.  Sadly, Mrs. Newfeld, a very qualified candidate, was one of them simply becuase the local newspaper endorsed her.    Mrs. Holley expressed to the crowd how she felt someone with a background as a teacher would be a great addition to the board but when the only candidate with a teaching background was voted on Mrs. Holley and Mr. Barr both immediately rejected her.  Most telling of all, to me, was that Mr. Barr didn't even know my name and seemed surprised to hear it nominated.  He needed to have it repeated to him and then he still mispronounced it as if it were the first time he had encountered it.  I clearly never stood a chance.

Mr. Barr is a poor servant of the public.  He did not do his due dilligence in picking a board member and he did all in his power to stonewall the process. As an example one of the requirements all interested candidates had to fullfil was to complete a questionaire.  One of those questions was how would we deal with the public disagreeing with our decisions.  Later, at the public interview in front of the board and all citizens interested in attending each board member was provided with the chance to ask us each one question.  Mr. Barr's question was how we would deal with the public disagreeing with our decisions.  Mr. Barr couldn't even be bothered to ask a new question - which tells me he probably didn't even read our questionaires in the first place.

Instead Mr. Barr clearly gave lip service to the idea that he felt all the candidates were good because he had no idea.  He didn't even know who we were.  Instead he knew who one candidate was and, when all was said and done, he was too cowardly to nominate him for the position.

Now Mr. Barr will continue to play politics for the remainder of the process.  He has already presented the spectre that if the board couldn't pick a member that the state would appoint someone.  Now that I have witnessed how Mr. Barr operates the board I sincerely hope the state does appoint someone.

I do not regret having attempted to join the school board but I do regret that the school board is in the hands of Mr. Barr.  Supposedly we will get an email from Mr. Barr telling us what will happen next.  I am not sure why seven us will get that email considering Mr. Barr's insistence that we were eliminated from consideration (nor do I know how a man who doesn't know how to use email will manage the task of sending out a electronic note to eight people).  I am certain that my disgust for Mr. Barr's antics were plainly evident tonight and thus any chance of my getting on the board have been quashed.  Hopefully the restriction against those who were already eliminated is removed and either Mrs. Newfeld or Ms. Carla Parker is selected for the seat.   I think the other four candidates would be fine additions as well but, if I were on the board and having to choose, Mrs. Newfeld and Ms. Parker would be my top two choices.

Tonights charade was very disheartening to me.  I have been pouring a lot of energy into projects aimed at helping improve the city and surrounding area and to see such a cancer sitting on the school board - the institution responsible for preparing our children for a global economy - is just sickening.  One citizen stepped forward tonight and suggested Mr. Barr resign and I can't help but agree with that suggestion.  Sadly that won't happen because while the Board will be just as important without Mr. Barr, Mr. Barr won't be nearly as important without the board.

As you can see I am not cut out for politics.   I truely appreciate the obvious effort that Mrs. Oxley put into evaluating the candidates.  For all of those that she nominated she spent a great deal of time explaining why she was nominating them.  I also appreciate Mr. Thomas's effort in carefully considering the candidates and for having the courage to nominate us even though he knew Mr. Barr and Mrs. Holley were playing a game.  I'm just sorry their time was wasted on our behalf.

#Commentary #MyLife

I wanted to jot these two short stories down for posterity sake before I forgot them.

The first occurred Thursday evening when I finally managed to get back home after a day of work and then a late night at the Create Huntington Chat-n-Chew meetings. Emily was still up and she jumped up with excited upon seeing me enter the house. She cut me off as I entered the kitchen and gave me a small golden box with a golden bow. She exclaimed, "For you Daddy, It's a box of love! I blew a bunch of kisses into it for you."

What a great way to get welcomed home.

This morning, Mothers Day, Shannon and Emily were determined to make Lisa breakfast in bed. Lisa really wanted French Toast but the girls can't make that themselves and they insisted that they would make breakfast without help. Finally, Lisa relented and ordered up some nut bread and some granola cereal (milk on the side please). The girls ran downstairs to whip her meal up and I tried to go back to sleep.

A few minutes later Emily marches into the bedroom proudly carrying a plate of food and announces that she has the nacho bread. My eyes opened at what I thought was just a mispronunciation of nut bread only to discover that she was delivering a plate of nacho bread; white bread broken into pieces covered in shredded cheddar. Emily's own recipe as an appetizer while Shannon got the main dishes ready. Lisa was a good sport and ate some of it with a smile. Emily didn't seem to think there was anything odd about the dish at all and happily finished it off for Lisa.

Perhaps the next time you're looking to impress some dinner guests you can remember the simple recipe for Nacho Bread - it's cheap and, according to Emily, tasty!

#Family #MyLife

Here is a photo of Shannon in her communion dress and her blue cast. Enjoy:
[caption id="attachment_974" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Shannon in communion dress and cast"][/caption]

#MyLife

I feel like I haven't blogged here in quite a while and, while I've been silent, my life has not been. Emily had pneumonia last month and had to be in the hospital for a few days. That really sucked and brought back uncomfortable memories of the last time she was in the hospital. Fortunately this stay was much shorter and she bounced back nicely. After that we headed up to Cleveland for Easter to see Lisa's parents and her Uncle who was celebrating his 85th birthday.

Once we came back from Cleveland I attended a County Board of Education (BoE) meeting to see what they were like and I communicated a bit with the Superintendant of Schools to determine if I'd be interested in pursuing a position on the BoE. After much deliberation I decided to submit a letter of interest last week. Now I have a questionnaire to fill out by hand. As you may know my handwriting sucks so I photocopied the form a few times so I could make sure my final effort is as legible as possible. I tried filling it out once as a straight shot but my hand cramped really badly and as I scan down the sheet it becomes less and less legible. I need to get that filled out within the next couple of days so I can get it back to the board in time for the interview next Monday.

Just over a week ago Shannon had to also take a trip to the hospital however her trip was for a broken arm. She broke it while walking Rosie around the park. Rosie is small but pretty strong and she managed to pull Shannon over while they were running which left Shannon with a scuff on her face, her knee, and a broken left arm. Last Monday I took her to the orthopedist to get a cast and it runs all the way up to her arm pit. Now-a-days kids can pick the color of their cast so she picked light blue - the same color as the new bike we got her. Sadly, she still hasn't been able to try to ride her new bike and I imagine it might be a couple weeks after she gets the cast off before we give it a go so she can get her arm strength back.

At the end of last week Shannon also received her first Holy Communion though she passed on the wine because she didn't want to drink blood. When she puts it like that it's funny she is willing to eat flesh but not drink blood. But she looked great in her little white dress along with her classmates. Some of the kids in her class aren't Catholic but they were still included in the ceremony and could go up for a blessing from the priest. Afterwards we had a small party at our house where we had cold cut sandwiches and soda. Overall it was a pretty nice day.

In the meantime I've still been working on my WhyHuntington site to help focus on the positive aspects of Huntington. My company also had an open house where we spent some time chatting with various customers and potential customers. I had a great chat with a representative of Marshall University about their event calendars and I'm hoping to be able to help them enhance their calendars in the near future (much like I did for the Herald-Dispatch). You can see the results of all of my calendar work at http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/services/whyhuntington/html. I've also been meeting with some graphic arts students at Marshall as they have been working on a new logo for the WhyHuntington site. I received the final copy to approve last Friday and it rocked. I can't wait to get it on the site.

Overall April was a pretty hectic month. Later this month I'll be taking the annual photos of each of us to update our family timeline.

#MyLife

I was on a hour long radio show with the local university radio station last night. During the first 30 minutes they interview me then in the second half they talk about what I had to say. Here's the audio of the show "On The Table" from WMUL 88.1 FM - Marshall Universities Student Radio Station.



If the audio player doesn't load or if you want to listen to the MP3 at your own pace then feel free to download the entire interview.

#MyLife

[disclaimer: I forgot to publish this when I first wrote it.  I didn't hit the "publish" button until Aug 11, 2009]

Yesterday I took Shannon and Patti out to lunch as a break from visiting the hospital. As we were talking Shannon mentioned that she was always right "Patti said so." I responded, "Well, Patti isn't always right so she may be wrong about you always being right. If you're going to make an outrageous claim you have to have some evidence to support it." This is NOT a statement I make very often because, really, she doesn't make many crazy claims.

Patti is a deeply religious person and I, obviously, am not; but we have a great relationship that respects each others positions. In fact, we rarely have much cause to speak about religion. However after my assertion that Shannon had to back up her claim of "always being right" Shannon immediately segued off to a discussion on a religious topic that is giving her pause; she just doesn't get how Jesus could be both God and God's son. I told her I didn't understand how that could work either and that it was something worth thinking about. After a brief, uncomfortable silence, Patti suggested Shannon ask Father Jim about it.

I've honestly not mentioned to her the need for proof for outrageous claims in relation to religion before so I was pretty shocked when Shannon turned the topic to one of religion. However, I am glad she did because I at least know she is thinking about what she is being told and is willing to ask questions to learn more. More than anything that is the attitude I want both of my daughters to have - one that is inquisitive and that wants to understand things beyond what is presented at face value - regardless of the topic.

#MyLife

I just finished up my two periods of speaking to local 8th grade students. I think they thought I was dull and boring - no surprise there, but hopefully they at least consider what I had to say. Sadly, a few kids in both classes clearly had zero interest in what I was saying but the large majority at least seemed like they were paying attention which was refreshing.

The school actually breaks the classes down by gender so my first class was all boys (about 15) and the second was all girls (about the same size). I had not known schools did this - or even could do it - so it was a little weird when the first class all sat down and I realized there were no girls. At the end of the period the teacher told me they were separated by gender. I asked him about it after I finished my presentation to the girls class and he said it is a new endeavor they just started this year. He said in the past girls have intentionally "dumbed" themselves down in the mixed gender classes and the boys puff themselves up to show off. Thus, historically, on the achievement tests in this school the girls have outscored the boys. Now he says his girl classes are outperforming the boys but sadly it isn't just because the girls are just living up to their potential (their scores have gone up) but the boys have stopped trying to show off (their scores have gone down).

Most of the kids in this school come from pretty lower income families so I tried to personalize my presentation as much as possible explaining that financial hardship shouldn't be an excuse they use to under-perform later in life. I told them that there are tons of sources of money out there for kids who do good in high school and want some form of post-secondary education (be it college, trade/technical school etc). Overall I told them that this is their chance to start to take control of their lives; that it is their responsibility to do their best in high school because, after they graduate if they find themselves in a crummy dead-end job they will only have themselves to blame.

At the end I asked both groups what they wanted to do when they were adults. It seems the career field of "i dunno" will be well staffed! Well, seriously, I didn't expect them to know. However it was cool that at least five of the boys said they planned on going to college and the four or five girls who responded all mentioned jobs that would require additional education. One of the boys said he wanted to do what I do so I gave his teacher my work contact info so if the kid ever had a question he could ask me. One of the girls had recently changed her plans from being a masseuse to being a counselor so I mentioned to her that was great; my mom switched her career later in life to do that very thing.

I don't know if any of the kids will actually change their plans or approach to high school based on my presentation but I hope they at least give my words some thought.

I can also say that I think these kids have a good social studies teacher. While he had one habit I didn't like his overall approach and obvious interest in the kids lives and success is more than obvious. I would not be surprised if he is the kind of teacher that turns some kids around towards a more successful life. His rapport with the students instantly reminded me of my 7th grade social studies teacher who got me fired up about learning in school and really changed my entire perspective.

Overall I'm very glad I gave the presentation and I would definitely do it again. I was, admittedly, a little nervous with the first class but I suppose that is to be expected. I think, if I ever get to do it again that I'll try to find ways to make the presentation even more compelling and try to draw the kids into the conversation more. While I saw some obvious facial signs that they were stunned by some of the things I said, it would have been cool to have engaged them a bit more. The neatest thing was that most of these kids seemed really nice and that they almost all seemed to get along as a group. I don't remember such camaraderie in middle school. Of course maybe I was in that little group that didn't seem to get along with the group?

#MyLife

My civic project, WhyHuntington.com has been going along pretty smoothly for the past couple of weeks and, I think, I'm starting to get other people excited enough about the project that they will be contributing to the site as well. My hope is that, eventually, a lot of people will be semi-regular contributors and that the site will be updated with fresh content on a regular basis. Part of my process for getting people to know about the site has been to have Lisa email all the people she knows that live around here and to tell them about it. One of those people was Carrie Cline a local NBC news reporter for WSAZ. The next day she called me and asked to setup a time where she could do a story about the site and then, that night, I was on the news in a nice little feature.

The next day the local daily newspaper, the Herald Dispatch, put a short story in their local section about the site as well. It seems that you can't go anywhere around town with the site or my name being in the media. Well, ok you can, but for about 24 hours I as all over the place!

#MyLife

I am still hitting the trails every weekend, when possible, to Mountain Bike. I rode on both of the last two weekends even though the conditions were less than ideal. Two weeks ago the trails were covered with a slushy snow that just buried soft mud. The climbs were exhausting and really took a lot out of my legs. However, I recently raised my seat about 6-8" and it has made a huge difference in my entire ride. Now, I can actually climb a lot of the hills that used to kick my ass at about the half-way point. With the seat raised I am fighting myself a lot less and my motion is much more efficient. I think I need to raise my handlebars about 2 inches now to make things perfect.

This past weekend we rode the same two trails we hit the prior weekend but in the reverse order. The slush was gone but the trails were still pretty darn slick and muddy. Large chunks of the trail were also buried under leaves which, for once, was a good thing because they helped provide traction. I was pretty nervous on a variety of segments of the trail this week because of the slickness. Whenever I hit a trail I am uncomfortable on I go much slower or I just walk it. Sometimes going slower is the last thing I should do because some obstacles require enough momentum to get over them; that's when I walk. I know I can get over the obstacles when it is dry but I just don't feel comfortable enough with my steering to stay on the bike through some of the trickier stretches when it is also so muddy.

I'm also going to start back up P90x tonight - but I am going to be lazy and only do a few parts of it. I don't really want to do anything with weights because I don't want to be out in the garage. So I'm going to do a modified version that incorporates plyometrics, yogo, stretching, and ab-ripper-x. I might still do the shoulders and back day but I'll just leave out the weight training and just do the pushups and pullups. This leaves me doing the parts I actually enjoy and I don't have to take a hour away from Lisa each night to do it all.

I'm not the only one exercising though - Lisa is doing Zoomba which is sort of a dancing-aerobic workout (I think). My bosses wife teaches it (she is in great shape) and Lisa is going with a few friends which, I think, makes it more fun for her. She seems to really enjoy it and I'm very glad she is going. She's supposed to go 3 times a week but the prior couple of weeks she took off due to her sprained ankle. She restarted again Saturday and I think, as she sticks with it, she'll see pretty positive changes pretty quickly. She is also back to using the Wii Fit which is a nice low-impact exercise regimen; she seems to really enjoy the Yoga and step aerobic portions particularly. Shannon is even doing some of it which is cool; she has always liked doing it but she gets bored waiting for her turn (understandably).

So that's it from this neck of the woods - we have a new focus on fitness which we will, hopefully, stick with for the long run.

#MountainBiking #MyLife