doe

It was my usual route: a breezy run, right through the hood and through the local Seminary gates. I was listening to Baltimore dance savant bt. The music shimmered like a new computer and seemed to lend me extra energy -- always nice.

I was about 30 minutes into it when I hit the steep, steep hill that leads from the main road to the main church. It's about 1/4 mile in length, but that actually feels like a long way with that steep gradient. I'm pounding my way up the hill, my sides aching from the heat and the strain of the hill. It feels like my own private Everest.

So I stomp up, turn the bend and I see her standing there, nibbling on something and looking at me all doe-eyed. She was beautiful. Just as peaceful as you please, not a bit scared of me, but still watching me, all the same. She stood there and let me pass, without really moving very much.

Bambi's mom was quite a site, considering that Bountiful, my parents' retirement home, is located smack dab in the middle of hundreds of miles of rural countryside and I've never been that close to a deer, whereas this little seminary is just 10 or so square miles in size. Odd that I should have such a natural encounter within the gates of a religious school, in the middle of the Alexandria suburbs. Why not on the C&O Canal? The last time I saw a deer there, it was head-first in a ditch, dead. (What a sight! A huge buck, face-down dead in a ditch is enough to make even Baby Jesus cry!)

So this was a welcome sight and it made my afternoon just a little special.

That and the George Jetson lesson, I mean.

This summer will be the last one when I have to take classes. Finishing up the second round of graduate classes will keep me busy. Luckily, it's something I can do from home. The class will be webstreamed, or in the macromedia vernacular, breezecast. It's a setup that would make George Jetson proud.



The multimedia lesson is a mix of video cameras, sound, screen sharing (for ppt presentations) and chat. I was pleasantly surprised at the professor's intellect (he's a sharpie) and the class' eagerness to chat. I suppose my expectations were low because I'd never heard of the school before. Well color me impressed -- it went well and I enjoyed the presentation.