It's been a banner week at the Panetti house...

John Bender of Breakfast Club and "It's been a banner year at the Bender house!" fame.

So we've had quite a week at our house, and buttons are bursting all over the place. Allow me to brag:


Number One Son (we only have one, but I may have watched too many Charlie Chan movies as a kid) has not only had a stellar senior year in high school, doing very well academically, becoming the Drum Major for the Football Marching Band and serving as a captain on the swim team for his second year, but last week was particularly excellent, as lots of that hard work is starting to show returns.

He's applied to several schools, none of which could I have been accepted to when I was his age. He hasn't heard back from all of them, but last week he found out he has been accepted to two small, private schools in the Midwest (Luther College in Decorah, Iowa and Gustavus Adolphus in St. Peter, Minnesota). He's still waiting on a couple others, including his #1 choice (at the moment), the University of Chicago.

Then, on the Monday after Christmas (as we returned home to a mailbox stuffed with Christmas letters and other mail), a letter was waiting from Gustavus, announcing that he received the Dean's Scholarship, which is renewable for four years, and is worth $15,000 per year. We were - and still are - flabbergasted by the cost of college, and particularly by this award.

Here he is giving a speech after accepting the Drum Major Award at the conclusion of the 2010 Football Marching Band season (FYI, the band did much better than the football team):



Now Number One Daughter, like her brother in that she is an only daughter and is equally as successful academically as her brother (her GPA is actually higher than his, and she's only a junior), was recently named as the lead in the competition One Act Play at school. She's an absolute natural on stage, and pours her heart and soul into her parts. Two years ago she played the Julia Roberts part from Steel Magnolias, and literally brought tears to the eyes with her performance.

Not content to just be talented in the classroom and on stage, she is also an excellent writer. Just last week she received notice from Bemidji State University, a small state school in northern Minnesota, that an entry she submitted was selected for publication next spring, only one of 60 or so out of more than one thousand entries. As an added bonus, her work was chosen by the faculty reviewers as the winner of the Toni Morrison Prize for Fiction. She'll have a chance to read her work aloud for the panel and an audience of admirers later in April.

Sure is a good thing drive and intelligence skips a generation.

Web-nesday

Here's one choice for the best of 2010 (of course, they do this every year, so you might see this one again): //www.lssu.edu/banished/

Lake Superior State University (maybe the most prestiguous institution of higher learning on the shores of Gitchi Gumi), annually posts a list of words that should be banished, as they have done for lo these past 36 years.

Here's what they have to say about the list for the year just past:

It may have been word of the year in some wheelhouses, but "refudiate" wasn't looked upon favorably by many who sent in nominations for Lake Superior State University's 36th annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness, which was released on New Year's Eve.

In a busy U.S. election year, "the American People" told LSSU they were tired of not only "refudiate," but also "mama grizzlies" who wanted their opponents to "man up."

But words and phrases related to technology and the way we communicate dominated the list for 2011, including "viral," "epic," "fail," and the use of websites "Facebook" and "Google" as verbs. "Viral" received the most nominations.

The "back story" on LSSU's popular list began on Jan. 1, 1976, when former LSSU Public Relations Director Bill Rabe and a group of friends each contributed a few expressions that they disliked to form the first list. After that, the nominations stacked up for future lists and Rabe's group, known then as The Unicorn Hunters, didn't have to make up its own list again. LSSU receives well over 1,000 nominations annually through its website, lssu.edu/banished.

And now, here's a look at the 2011 list. Get ready for the "wow factor!" It's full of "epic" "a-ha moments" that are sure to "viral." It's a no-"fail" list that you'll be "facebooking" and "googling" with your "BFFs." "Just sayin'."

Friday edition of Web-nesday

Ok, so I've been a little busy this week. I'm sure you - my one loyal reader - will get over it.

Today's website comes to us from that esteemed institution of higher learning, Princeton University. Actually, more properly it comes from the Office of Population Research at Princeton University, where they have produced this nifty little population clock, highlighting in stark relief the exploding population of a little place called Earth.

Take a gander at it, if you dare. You might want to put down that coffee first, so as to avoid hot liquefied caffeine coursing through your sinuses...

http://www.opr.princeton.edu/popclock/du/popclock/

Population as of 1200 noon CST December 17, 2010: 6,888,401,888 - and growing!

Wow...

With all the attention the little WikiLeaker has gotten lately, one additional consequence has been to shine a bit of a brighter light on the US Foreign Service and the State Department in general.

Some people in my particular (admittedly small-ish) circle of friends, family and acquaintances might be inclined to want the federal government to shrink, in all areas and at all costs. While there is no one (at least of whom I am aware) that does not think the debt or annual deficits are grossly bloated, those who would argue that federal employees who work as Foreign Service Officers should have their pay or benefits cut, or that the State Department should also be cut to the bone should read this post from a little blog called Four Globetrotters.

Gut-wrenching comes to mind. Grateful, too.

Thank you, FSOs who do such a remarkable, wonderful, mind-boggling job. Here's to you and all you do.

Inauguration of "Web-nesday"

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading the blogs of many current FSOs. Sincerely, I would be proud to (and hope to) work with every one of them, and these are people I've never met (other than through the virtual world of the blogosphere).

One of my favorite blogs is Muttering Behind the Hardline (formerly "Calling a Spade a Spade", created by No Double Standards), and one of the regular features of his blog is what he calls "Cartuesday," where he posts a current, relevant and often funny editorial cartoon dealing with the events of the day.

Taking a page from Muttering, I am instituting "Webnesday," whereupon every Wednesday that I can actually manage to remember to update this blog, I will link to a different site on those World Wide Webs.

Today's inaugural edition links to a site called Politifact, hosted by the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times, the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winning news organization. Their Fact-Checker and Truth-O-Meters are excellent journalism, in my humble opinion. Always great when debating that fanatic who won't change his mind, and won't change the subject!


Yay facts!

http://politifact.com/