Whale Watching

We were able to participate recently in one of the perks of living along the Pacific Ocean: whale watching. We got up early Saturday morning and traveled down to the San Diego harbor to board a boat which would carry us on a 3-hour tour out in to ocean. (No, the first mate was not named Gilligan!) We had been waiting for the right part of the season to go when we were pretty sure there would be whales to see.

Warning - Science Content
California gray whales migrate from the cold Alaskan waters south along the western coast of the US to lagoons in Mexico where they give birth to their young. The whales know they need to travel to warmer waters before their babies are born. There are two reasons for this. First, newborn babies have to learn to swim properly and the waters off the coast of Mexico have more salt and are, therefore, more dense, which helps the newborns float in the water more easily while learning. Second, the babies are not born with a good layer of blubber which is needed for them to survive in the very cold Alaskan water. They spend time in the warmer waters consuming 50 gallons a day of their mother's milk, building up blubber and learning to swim to make the journey back to Alaska. The reason they travel to Alaska is because the food is more plentiful and nutrient-rich there. The whales spend the short summer months filtering enough food from the ocean floor to provide sufficient energy to make the 6-month journey back to the warm water to mate or give birth.

We boarded our boat and headed out to sea. On the way out through the San Diego harbor, we saw many sea lions resting in the sun. Less than a mile out of the harbor, we came upon a really spectacular site. Someone spotted a dolphin just ahead of us and then a few more. The naturalist on board pointed out that the dolphins had created a 'fish-ball' and were feeding. A fish-ball is created when a group of dolphins gather together a large number of smaller fish into a cluster. They then can dart through and grab fish to eat. We were able to see several dolphins swimming around in circles and jumping out of the water. After we passed them, two or three dolphins decided to swim along with us right off the bow of the ship. They seemed to be having a lot of fun racing along and jumping out of the water.

A couple of miles further out, someone spotted the spray from a surfacing gray whale. The boat maneuvered around so that we could see the whale surface a couple of times to take a breath and then dive back down showing us his tail as it went. For the next hour and a half, or so, we followed along with this whale watching him surface, take 2 breaths, and then dive again every 3 and 1/2 minutes. He was so consistent with this timing that I could look at my watch and get my camera ready within about 15 seconds of seeing him surface. It was very cool to see. I tried to get some good photos of him but the pictures just don't do him justice. The most you could every really see of him was his side and his tail just before his next dive.

We all had a great time and had only slight problems with motion sickness. There are some other boat trips available which we are interested in. One is a six hour nature trip to a nearby island...Becky has already reminded me we have our 20th wedding anniversary this summer.

Allen

Family Fun

We've had a couple of pretty fun weekends, lately, that we'd like to tell you about.

I kept hearing about all the snow and cold weather back in St Louis and started thinking that it'd be good to go somewhere to play in the snow and do some sledding. So, I talked to Becky and we all made the 2 hour drive up to Big Bear, 7000 feet up in the mountains, to spend the day snow-tubing. Stephen was hesitant at first but after the first run down the big hill, he was pumped. We tubed for almost 5 hours that day and were quite worn out when we finished. Stephen slept for most of the ride home.

Last weekend, Stephen accomplished a major milestone that has been a long time in coming. He learned to ride his bicycle without the use of training wheels! That's right, there's no stopping him now. Well, actually, that statement is more true that you might think, because, while Stephen can now ride his bike without help and without training wheels, he cannot yet properly stop his bike. At least, not that well. That takes a little more practice.

I had taken him out to ride on the tennis court about 3 weeks ago. It's a nice flat location with no cars so he feels pretty good riding there. He had training wheels on the bike and I would walk alongside him trying to get him to feel how he was leaning the wrong way or to get the feeling that the bike is leaning. That's when I realized that the training wheels were really preventing him from feeling it. They did not allow the bike to lean so he didn't realize there was a problem. I decided to remove the training wheels on our next try. Without them, he could really tell what the bike was doing. I walked along with him holding the bike and preventing him from falling. When he got up to speed, I began taking my hand off the bike. He started doing better and better. Then it got dark and we had to quit.

Last Sunday, I took him back to the court and we tried again. He started off poorly, but quickly remembered what he had done the week before. I stayed right along side him as he gained more and more confidence and got the feel of riding and balancing. Eventually, I got him to go all the way around the court without having me touch the bike. He was really doing great. I ran to get Becky and brought out the camera. Stephen really showed off how well he could ride. I didn't even walk with him. He just went around and around the court by himself. Becky and I were very proud.

Then we told him that next weekend, the three of us could get out of the tennis court and go riding together in the park. His response? "NO WAY!" We have to work on that chicken part next.

Bad Words Indeed

I was getting out of the car today after picking up Stephen from school, and he asks me from the back seat, “Mom, what is the bad word that begins with ‘f’?” Oh boy. Here comes that conversation. First the fear spoke and I thought, ‘This could go so wrong.’ (Are we ever prepared for these questions?) Then the shock took over and I thought, ‘Where did you hear that word?!’ and fast-forwarded to banning friends and tv programs and even recess. Then the rationality won out and I turned back into my seat, pulled the car door closed and prepared myself for a meaningful conversation. I looked back at Stephen and calmly asked, “Can you tell me what word you’re talking about, bud?” He looked down at the floor and said, “Well, I know I’m not supposed to say it.” This didn’t help my fears. “It’s ok, bud, go ahead and tell me so I know what word you’re talking about.” “Ok, well,….I think it’s fart.” I almost laughed out loud. Whew, this won’t be as hard as I thought. “Yeah, Stephen, that’s not a very nice word and let’s try not to use it, ok?” I turned to open the car door and get out, but wise thoughts overtook me from my friend Susan about not ever letting teachable moments pass and I knew we weren’t at the end of the conversation. “Uh, Stephen, are there any other bad words that you know?” “Well, yeah, there’s the ‘d’ word.” Ok, that one’s not so hard to explain. But wait, Becky, don’t assume again. “Which word is that, Stephen?” “Darn-blasted.” Relief again. But only short-lived: “And Mom, you know there’s the ‘s’ word.” I raised an eyebrow as I clearly remembered my first time hearing the ‘s’ word (and going home and asking my mom what it meant) was also in first grade. “Well, what word is the ‘s’ word, bud?” Looking sideways at me, he replied, “You know….stupid.” Big sigh on my part. “Oh, of course, Stephen, yeah, we don’t ever want to call someone that word either. It’s not very nice. That really can be a bad word.” Big smile and contented nod from Stephen. Too bad we won’t stay at first-grade bad words forever.

A Good Brother

The closing months of 2008 were difficult ones for the Priest family. As I wrote previously, my dad passed away on November 29. One month later, on December 26, my oldest brother Marshall Allen Priest, passed away in Grand Junction, Colorado, at the age of 55. In January 2008, Dad and I flew to Grand Junction to spend a few days with Marshall, as both of their health was failing, and we knew it would probably be the last time either of them would be up for it. While it was really good to see him again, we could tell that his health was not good. A couple of months ago, Marshall checked into the hospital because the doctors told him he was dying of cancer and had 2 months to live. Unfortunately, they were right.

The day after Christmas, Becky, Stephen, and I were driving from St Louis to Arkansas to spend a few days with my family. On the way, we got the call that Marshall was not expected to make it through the night. I was a little stunned. We stopped for lunch and I called Marshall at the hospital in Grand Junction. His friend, Laura, was at the hospital with him and held the phone to his ear so that I could talk to him. He could barely speak - just a very quiet whisper. I told him that I loved him and thanked him for all that he had done in my life to help me. I told him that I prayed that God had him in His hands and that I was going to miss him a lot. Although I could not understand what he was saying, Laura could and she told me later that Marshall had said that he loved me too. Marshall and I had had some very good, long conversations in the past. This one was our last.

After high school, Marshall went into the Army. He received training in electronics and became a very accomplished electronics technician and designer. He had a number of opportunities to get some of the best electronics training available and spent many years traveling the world and working on the most top-secret, sophisticated, information-gathering technology in the world.

Marshall knew that I was very interested in electronics. When I was about 12 years old, Marshall bought me some electronics books as a Christmas present. I ate them up. One of them, which I still have on my shelf today, was the 'Engineer's Notebook' from Radio Shack. This was back in the day when you could still buy electronic components at Radio Shack - but I digress. I loved that book because it had pages and pages of circuit ideas for neat stuff you could build with just a few components. I wanted to build one of them - and expand it somewhat - but I did not understand how it worked. Marshall sat down with me and walked me through the process of reading a schematic and understanding circuit operation. That was my first lesson in reading schematics. From that, I was really fired up for electronics design. Because of Marshall's instruction, I quickly began designing my own circuits while still in the 6th grade.

When it came time for me to start thinking about college, Marshall gave me a dream. See, growing up, my family didn't have a lot of money and while I knew I wanted to go to college, I had no idea if, where or what we could afford. Marshall stepped in and encouraged me to look at some of the top engineering schools in the country. He told me about how much financial aid would be available and also told me that he, personally, would be helping to pay for it. I applied to, and was accepted at, Washington University in St Louis. The tuition and room and board for a year were almost half my dad's annual salary. Financial aid and scholarships helped a lot but the remaining bill was over $3000 for the first year. That was a lot of money in 1983. Marshall called from England where he was living at the time and asked Dad how much we owed. Marshall wired us the full amount plus a little extra for books and spending money. He continued to contribute money every year while I was going through college. Whenever a tuition bill was due, Marshall would come through and send us the necessary amount.

In the fall of 1984, Marshall moved back to the US from England and began working for a company in a suburb of Washington DC. The next spring, he called me at college and asked me about my summer employment plans. I told him I expected to just go home and work at the computer store again - but he had other plans. Marshall had gotten me an internship with his company, E-Systems, developing software and hardware. I was thrilled! He flew me to out to Virginia, and I arrived on a Saturday night. On Sunday, he took me driving so that I could learn to drive the manual transmission of his new, sporty Pontiac Fiero. After a couple of hours, he tossed me the keys, told me to take him to the airport, and informed me that he was leaving for Germany for six months and then going back to England. The car was for me to use that summer and then to keep when I went back to college! I spent two summers working at E-Systems and gained a huge step forward with the experience I gained there. That cemented my love of engineering and electronics and gave me some real excitement to pursue learning everything I could about electronics design. That had been Marshall's goal all along.

Marshall loved talking to me about my engineering work. When I was in graduate school, and later after I had started my own company, we had numerous discussions about my research and applications of the technology. Marshall was always thinking of new ideas and new ways of doing things and encouraged me to think outside the box and consider the crazier applications which seemed too far out there to obtain. Marshall was certainly not perfect, but he was a good, big brother. My love for engineering and my engineering talent came from him and his strong encouragement of me. I owe him so much!

Allen