3 gold stars

Our household appears to be super-achievers this week. The highlights...

Ray - skater extraordinare; was invited to a special "Talent Night" (although it is not at night) for figure skating. It looks like an indoctrination of young skaters into the sport but she was one of 2 children from her learn-to-skate program invited this year to 2 one-hour skates. Ray is thrilled and will tell you she will represent Canada in the Olympics at some point in the future. She is also trying to convince me that this is a team sport because she plans to skate with a boy, although in pairs or dance is not yet clear.

Galen - hockey superstar; won the golden jersey in a vast marketing ploy by a certain burger joint that is underwriting uniforms for atom hockey this year. The golden jersey is awarded for best performance in the game and is to be worn at the next practice. Galen got this honor because he skated his butt off and showed the most amazing hustle, stick handling, passing and defensive play of his team yesterday. It was enough to invoke a "Holy CRAP!" from the opposing bench's coaches when he wove down the ice between several players using both stick and feet to advance the puck. No goal but that was because of superb goaltending on the opposing bench, not for lack of many excellent shots.

Mom - tenure. After a very ambiguous letter for the university, it was clear I'd made it past the faculty of Science and the senate appointments committee. The Senate meets on Wed but I have been told by my department chair that the ambiguous letter was as good as gold, go ahead and tell everyone. And my research leave has been approved!