I was thinking about high school, and the word joule came to mind. I have no idea what a joule is, but I think I learned about them in high school. I think I learned a lot of what I am thankful for in high school. But more than that I learned FROM some people who I am thankful for in high school. Men and women who shaped me (some might BLAME THEM for that, but I rather like them).
- Bill Heeren. I had him for Chem, and Geometry. In geometry class we all bombed a test, and he cried in front of the class. He was upset that he was doing a bad job teaching. Later Bill would play basketball with me, and give me detentions just to make sure I had someone to talk to, as I think he concerned about me. I am thankful for Bill Heeren.
- Scott Blanchard. I get paid to write a lot of stuff these days. Regardless if you think I deserve to, someone does. I started in 10th grade on the DC Jet, and I got thrown off of the Jet for doing bad research. You see, I was in 10th grade, and had no idea what research was. Now, I know what it is. Given my current job, Scott Blanchard got me here.
- Maren Thorson. A lot of people remember her. I read books by the pound to quote Diamond David Lee Roth, and she started me on that. Ethan Frohm, JD Salinger, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck. Man, we READ in school and we talked about the ideas. How cool was that.
- Joel Mensch. I have no idea where he is, but if I did I would gladly call him everyday just to talk to him. He was such a friend in a hard time, and I will always thank him for it. I hated math, and he was my math teacher, and he never punished me for it.
- Eugene Dix. I met Jackie in his class. She was my lab partner and she got a B and I got a D. How that works, no idea. His class was hard. The most academically hard class prior to college, and I loved it. Stunk at it, but I got to meet Jackie and hang out each day with Dave Webber and Jay Freels, and those were cool guys.
I think that we can all make a list of other things we are thankful for…OS X, Parker Jotter, Keen Shoes, our grandparents, and all those lists are valuable. I was thinking about high school today.