The Leaves They are a’Changing
What great weather we had this last weekend. The leaves were changing, there was the smell of Fall in the air, and it was just chilly enough to keep the tops of my ears cold.
I had a wonderful drive up to Alma Mater University for the quarterly Foundation meeting and multiple homecoming events. Maybe it was all the college nostalgia, but nothing feels more like Fall than homecoming.
The Foundation meeting was the first I’ve attended that has had any "conflict." The regular business seems to be so plain and ordinary that it can become a bit boring. This meeting picked up when a request was made to provide Foundation funding (i.e. grants and scholarships) up to, but not exceeding, a students cost of attendance.
You see, when the Foundation is looking at eligiblity for any particular grant or scholarship, the same group of students keep appearing time after time–which makes sense, the best and the brightest are eligible for more Foundation money than the less-bright and less-able. The problem is that without the Foundation’s approval to change the distribution method, those top-end students were getting more money then they required to attend Alma Mater U. Their tuition and board was being paid and then they were being paid even more to attend school.
The divergent view was that a meritorious student should receive a merit scholarship regardless of whether their full ride was already covered. And I can agree with that. But I also believe that the non-merit money should be spread out to as many students as possible, without leaving a deserving student short of the funds necessary to attend.
This went back and forth until everyone was on the same page, and then the motion was passed unanimously. Isn’t democracy fun?
I stayed on campus for the Sports Hall of Fame dinner and I got a chance to introduce myself to Jimmy Riggleman, a fellow alumnus. Not only did we graduate from Alma Mater U., but we also graduated from the same High School. I finally got a chance to tell him the funny story of how I knew his name before I ever knew who he was.
In my freshman and sophomore years I had two roommates that were on the football team and who pledged the same athletic fraternity. As part of their pledge activities, they were required to memorize all of the current members of the Hall of Fame–at that time it was probably about 70 names. The would sit in our room and walk down the list from memory, each saying the next name. And for more times than I can count, they would get stuck at the same spot in the list and I would pipe up with "Riggleman, Riggleman, it’s Riggleman." And it was Riggleman and I had no idea who Riggleman was.
Well, in case you still have no idea who Riggleman was and is, he was a baseball player that became a professional baseball player, coach and manager of National League Baseball teams. He was the manager of the Nationals until a contract dispute and is now managing a minor league team in the Red’s organization.
Saturday was enjoyable, watching the football game from the President’s box. I’m a bit embarassed, he and I were talking and I now believe that he might have asked me a question, just a one or two quick word question, that I completely missed and then we both just stood there, neither one saying a thing. Him waiting for me to respond and me wondering if I might have missed a question. Oh well.
On Sunday we had a belated birthday party for my mom’s 80th birthday. Mrs. Ender and I took her out to dinner the night of her actual birthday, so this was for the rest of the family to say happy birthday to her too. I got her a gift card to the Red Door that should cover most of a full massage and she was quite the happy camper. I find it hard to believe that she’s really 80 because she doesn’t look or act like a little old lady. Whatever she’s doing, she should keep at it because it’s keeping her young.
Other than that, I’ve got nothing.
Ender is out.