What a day!

Daniel and I went to the DPS for the fourth time today. This was my first time with Daniel, but he and his dad had been THREE times prior to today. The lines were unbelievable. Daniel and I got there at 7:30 a.m. and sat in the Tahoe until more people showed up. Boy did they show up. A suburban showed up and 5 people hopped out before Daniel went and got in line. He wound up being the the second person called to the counter though when we got in. The 5 people in front went right to the machines. They must have been with a class. Anyway, Daniel passed the test. We were all very happy for him. After school Nathan pulled out of the parking garage, pulled up beside a parking lot on Walnut, and told Daniel he could drive. Daniel got behind the steering wheel. Stopped at the STOP sign. Turned right onto North 1st. He was too far over in the second lane so he over corrected and you can see what happened. Daniel went from starting the day nervous, to excited, to fearful, and then to a basket case the rest of the evening. He experienced some whip lash so Nathan took him to the doctor. Yesterday they went out to the farm. When they got back into town they stopped off at Shotwell and started over. Daniel came in the door telling me that he drove and did not hit anything. :)

Nathan's beloved brother

Found this in the Opera L-Archives today

Subject: Tenor Neil Wilson, dead at 44
From: Neil Funkhouser
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 21:34:56 EDT

Tenor Neil Wilson died on Monday at Memorial Sloane-Kettering Hospital in New
York after a short battle with kidney cancer (Renal Cell Carcinoma). He was
44 years old and maintained homes in New York and Berlin. He spent 5 seasons
with the Metropolitan Opera where he made his debut as Macduff in "Macbeth"
in 1988. He sang in 2 Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts, as Werther and
Rodolfo in "La boheme," and also sang with the company as Alfredo in La
Traviata in the parks.

He first attracted international attention when he sang the title role in
a new production of "Werther" at the Wuerttembergische Staatsoper in
Stuttgart in 1985. Reviews from every major operatic publication hailed him
as an important new tenor, resulting in numerous invitations to debut in the
world’s great theaters. Kurt Honolka in "Opera News" described him as a
"credible, young, slim Werther with effortless, brilliant top notes, a
baritonal middle range, not without acting ability - what more can one ask
for? This has, at a stroke, been one of Stuttgart’s finest discoveries."

The role of Werther was quickly to become his calling card; he was heard
in this role in Hamburg, Bologna, Buenos Aires, and Toronto, among others.

Successful debuts followed in quick succession with many of the world’s
major theaters, including the opera houses of Vienna, Munich, Zurich,
Vancouver, Washington D.C., Cologne, Palermo, Bonn, Catania, and Brussels, as
well as with the New Israeli Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and the
Salzburg Festival.

In recent years, he was heard with the opera companies of Minnesota,
Helsinki, Duesseldorf, Los Angeles, Palm Beach, San Diego, Leipzig, and
Philadelphia.

Harry Kupfer chose him as his leading tenor at the Komische Oper in
Berlin in 1990, where he sang over 150 performances and toured
internationally asHoffmann and Don Jose, a role which he sang there as
recently as this past May.

Earlier this year, Mr. Wilson began to expand his repertoire to include
the Wagnerian Heldentenor roles, beginning with his first Siegmund in "Die
Walkuere" in Budapest in February. In May, he was awarded the Wagner Prize by
the Liederkranz Foundation and sang at a concert under their auspices at
Alice Tully Hall. At the time of his death, Mr. Wilson had contracts through
the 2003 season for complete "Ring" Cycles in Meiningen and Budapest, as well
as Florestan in Lucerne and Saarbruecken, Dimitri in Boris Godunov in Kassel
and Edmund in Lear in Innsbruck.

A native of Texas, he began his professional operatic career in 1980 in
Verdi’s "Falstaff" at Wolf Trap. He made his debut in Carnegie Hall in 1984
in Dom Sebastian with Opera Orchestra of New York. A recipient of the
Sullivan Foundation Grant, he was also a winner of the Baltimore
International Operatic Competition, the Gerda Lissner Foundation, and the
Rosa Ponselle International Competition.

Mr. Wilson is survived by his wife, mezzo-soprano Linda Munguia of New York
City, his mother Shirley W. Nease of Abilene, Texas, his sisters Nancy Fisher
and Nora Del Bosque, both of Austin, Texas, and his brothers Noel Nease of
Littleton, Colorado, Nathan Nease of Abilene, Texas and Nelson Nease of
Austin, Texas. Funeral services will take place this weekend in Austin and
Abilene, Texas and his ashes will be buried at the A.W.O.F. Cemetery in
Georgetown, Texas. Funeral Services in New York will be held at St. Peter’s
Episcopal Church at a date to be announced.

This came out in the Abilene Reporter-News while Daniel and I were in Washington D.C.

March 2, 2009

My friends and I played with our Barbies all the time.

Most days, our mothers did not have to look very far to find us. My neighbor had a double-car garage. Their parents would pull their vehicles out and we would move all our stuff in. We would set up our houses -- all kinds of shapes and sizes -- on the garage floor.

Then there were the motor homes with all the camping equipment needed. Swimming pools, cars, and clothes galore. I was blessed to have a grandmother who made us doll clothes. I had a great big Barbie suitcase full of clothes. We had wedding dresses, high heel shoes, and gloves. Every once in a while the boys would join us with their GI Joes.

I am not sure my husband and I would have been friends when we were younger because he has told me stories of how he would take his sisters' Barbies and throw them up in the great big mulberry tree in his front yard. They would go so high that they would not be able to find them until the fall, when all the leaves would begin to fall.

-- Belinda Nease, Abilene

Woah! Somebody Oughta Fix That Bump!

Looking back:

PRE-COUNCIL WORK SESSION, THURSDAY

May 7, 1998, 8:30 A.M.

CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ABILENE, TEXAS,

BASEMENT CONFERENCE ROOM, CITY HALL


Public Appearance

1. The Cooper High School Physics class, accompanied by teacher Jim Reeves and Nathan Nease, presented the results of a study to find Abilene's Worst Bump. The Toyota Motor Company had given the class a $10,000 TAPESTRY grant to purchase the high tech equipment needed for the study and the Abilene New Car Dealer's association provided vehicles to conduct the study in. The study showed the top ten worst bumps in Abilene are:

The 10th worst bump is at the intersection of Green Meadows & Sylvan

The 9th worst bump is at the intersection of Chimney Rock & Buffalo Gap

The 8th worst bump is at the intersection of S. 8 & Ross

The 7th worst bump is at the intersection of Radford & Avenue F

The 6th worst bump is at the intersection of Stratford & Buccaneer

The 5th worst bump is at the intersection of Industrial & Treadaway

The 4th worst bump is at the intersection of Ambler & Mockingbird

The 3rd worst bump is at the intersection of S. 14th & Willis

The 2nd worst bump is at the intersection of N. 2 & Clinton

And the worst bump in Abilene is at the intersection of Hartford and Buccaneer!

Following the presentation, the students offered a few suggestions to help make driving Abilene's streets a safer and more enjoyable experience.

Mayor McCaleb thanked the class for presenting the results of their study, and complimented them on a thoughtful and well-informed study, stating it is important that students are studying physics and already becoming involved in solving problems in the city. No Council action was required.

Woah! Somebody Oughta Fix That Bump!
1997 Awardee
Budget: $9800.00
Project Director: Jim Reeves
Staff: Nathan Nease
Cooper High School
3639 Sayles Blvd.
Abilene, TX 79605
Phone: 915-691-1000
Email: reever@tenet.edu

Summary
This project involves high school physics students working with city and state civil engineers to determine which bumps in our city's streets are most hazardous when traversed at the legal speed limits. Students equipped with miniature accelerometers connected to calculator based lab systems and graphing calculators will collect and store data on the g-forces encountered by various cars as they are driven over bumps that are nominated in a city-wide survey as the most dangerous. Differential global positioning by satellite (DGPS) units will enable the students to locate and store the exact longitude and latitude of the bump. After locating and ranking the bumps, students, teachers, and a team of engineers will study the data and decide what steps should be taken.

Description
The students conducted a "worst bump" survey using the local newspaper and prepared drop boxes that were placed around town. The students used these to solicit nominations from the community of the most offensive bumps in town when they were negotiated at the speed limit. After collecting all the nominations, over 100 bumps were nominated for the study.

The students used Graphing Calculators and CBL systems as well as GPS in order to locate the position of these bumps and to record the acceleration when the bumps were traversed at the posted speed limit. The students then displayed and analyzed all of their data. By analyzing the acceleration versus time graph for each of the runs the students selected the ten most offensive bumps in Abilene. This project was supported by the local Automobile Association who lent the school the use of various vehicles from small to mid-size to vans so the students could investigate the impact of the bumps on each type of vehicle. After the analysis was completed, the students prepared a presentation for the local city council. The students presented the city council with data about the most offensive bumps, and made some suggestions on how these bumps might be ameliorated.

Front Page of Abilene Reporter-News 01-10-10

1st semester a success for ATEMS, students
■ College-prep school will pick 150 youths via lottery for next fall

EMILY PETERS

peterse@reporternews.com / 325-676-6776
When John Marti­nez visited mid­dle schools last year to persuade students and parents to apply for the district’s new math and sci­ence magnet high school, he could only present them with an idea.

“Recruiting last year was a challenge,” admits Marti­nez, the school’s director. “It was just me speaking about my vision.”

This year, after his school has been open one full se­mester in the Abilene In­dependent School District, Martinez has living, breath­ing evidence of his vision in action to help him recruit students for next fall.

That’s why he took fresh­men Jeremiah Dismukes to Craig Middle School last week. Jeremiah told eighth­graders at his alma mater that he is proud to have been a part of something “epic” in the school’s inau­gural year.

Jeremiah told them how he and his classmates are the first in the district to get their own laptop comput­ers. They take upper-level classes like physics without textbooks and already ex­plore engineering software like AutoCAD. They’ve worked in groups on real­life projects, started their own student organizations from scratch and gave the school a new name.

ATEMS — the Academy of Technology, Engineering, Math and Science — has be­come a thriving reality.

Applications for next fall are due March 1 and the school will pick 25 sopho­mores and 125 freshmen from a lottery. Students can’t have excessive disci­pline or attendance prob­lems, and at least half will come from economically disadvantaged households.

"We're looking to provide opportunities for students who might not consider this academic road," Martinez said. "I'm not just looking for the A-plus students. I'm looking for any child who wants to be challenged and has a desire to work hard."

The tuition-free, college- prep school offers hot lunches and free transportation daily. But like many pilot projects, some things have not gone as planned for ATEMS' first year.

LOCATION UNDETERMINED

AISD started the school with a two-year state grant for $480,000 and planned to work with Abilene Christian University to provide a location. Those plans with ACU fell through and a new location is still unknown.

This first year, the school has operated comfortably in an open room on the first floor of the Texas Tech building on Pine and North 3rd streets. Students cross the street to eat lunch at the OneAISD center and check out books from the downtown library.

The building is probably too small as the school adds one grade for the next four years.

District officials hope to have next year's location nailed down by spring break. "It's not about the building or the location," Martinez said. "No matter where this school is, our kids are going to get the best education in Abilene."

NEAR FUTURE PLANS

While the location is unknown, AISD has committed with the New Tech Foundation to sustain the school at least through spring 2014, said Cathy Ashby, associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction. She said the district fully expects the first ATEMS seniors to graduate in 2012.

Martinez has been building community partners, and he admits he is disappointed by a recent announcement that Texas Tech is dropping its Abilene-based graduate engineering school.

However, Texas Tech already helped ATEMS secure a $270,000 grant. That will send every student to visit Texas Tech and NASA this spring, where they will stay overnight and work in teams to design a simulated rocket and Mars rover.

The grant will also pay for a robotics summer camp in Abilene open to all area high school students.

"That's a great opportunity for recruitment," Martinez noted.

And he expects recruitment to go well.

ATHLETIC TRACK

Last summer, the district had about 100 applications for the school. This year, he expects more.

He admits athletics and fine arts will deter many students. A handful of ATEMS students are returning to Cooper or Abilene High for swimming and crosscountry practice outside of regular school hours, but programs like football and band are not possible.

One student already left ATEMS to play tennis, and Angel Moreno feels pretty certain he's not coming back to ATEMS for his sophomore year.

"Football is my dream," he said. "This school almost had enough to keep me here, but I want to play football."

However, Jeremiah said he's glad he chose to pursue a career track instead of athletics.

"It's tough, but you know I had to think about my future," he said. Next year, Martinez hopes to initiate an intramural program.

STUDENT LIFE

The absence of athletics doesn't mean student life is lacking. The young teens have taken advantage of their downtown scene after school, frequenting coffee shops and alleys perfect for skateboarding. Students used their school computer network called PeBL to post a poll so each could log a virtual vote for their preferred Friday night outing: movies, bowling or skating. Students say the first school dance was lively, with as many as 30 parent volunteers joining them on the dance floor.

Flex Fridays once a month throw the regular class schedule out the window. Instead, the school schedules events like a tour of Dyess Air Force Base, a scavenger hunt at Abilene Christian University, rocket- launching in the park or volunteer hours at the Abilene Zoo.

That's all meant to bring the students experience with college campuses, realworld careers and community service, Martinez said. That will be backed up when juniors and seniors take realworld internships.

Parents help with many of those outside activities. Parents are asked to volunteer 10 hours with the school each year, and Martinez estimates about 50 percent have already logged some hours.

FREEDOM RINGS

Teachers are designing group-based projects with a real-world twist, helping students get an idea of their futures.

In fact, some are so serious about their future in compute science they are discovering ways around firewalls and filters on their school-issued laptops.

"These kids are pretty sharp," Martinez said. "It's hard to keep them out of everything."

That's one big reason he stresses trust as the students take on personal responsibility.

"Freedom rings here," said Allegra Garcia. She explained students can listen to iPods during study time, but they lose the "trust cards" they wear around their necks if they listen to music while the teacher is talking.

But the freedom goes further than that.

"We are free to discuss things in class without raising our hands so we feel like adults having real conversations," Garcia said. "Some people talk down on the school and say it's hard. Yeah, it's hard if you don't try. Some say it's a nerd school, but we get more from this than we ever thought."

This was sent to me today. Right now it is hard to laugh, but this little guy makes my day. You are loved, Uncle Benda

2009 Ends with a Bump

I am getting a late start on my New Years letter this year, because of the bump I mentioned in the title. We had a wonderful Christmas season this year. We got out of school on the 18th. The night before we celebrated Christmas as a family. On the 19th, we went to my brother's house to celebrate Christmas with his family.
Brad and his wife had a precious new baby on the 20th of November so I was looking forward to seeing my newest nephew again. We celebrated Christmas the day we arrived. The next day my oldest nephew had a Christmas program at his church. We all went to go see him perform in "Camel Lot". All the 100s of children did a great job. The next morning we headed back to Abilene for a couple of days. On the 23rd we drove to Lake Buchanan to celebrate Christmas with Nathan's family. The next day there was a blizzard in Abilene. We missed it all. My two younger sons really disliked the fact that they were missing all the white stuff. Three days later when we came home it was still on the ground though. Missing snow in Abilene was soon overlooked when on the 28th we started our next trip for Colorado. There was snow along the way this side of Lubbock, but Daniel was distraught when he heard on the 29th that it was snowing again in Abilene. His comment was, "There better be snow in Colorado". We assured him there would be plenty in the mountains.

We spent one night with our great friends the Abla's in Dalhart, Texas. They had not gotten any snow yet this season.

On the 29th, we continued our journey to Conifer, Colorado. We chose to take the scenic route, so there was plenty of snow. Wilkerson Pass looked like a winter wonderland. We finally made it to Nathan's brother's house in Conifer. He lives 30 miles southwest of Denver. We had a wonderful visit with Nathan's brother, his wife, and their two children. They have the only niece in the family. On the 30th, Nathan went to work with his brother. They were putting up some dry wall. When they got back we loaded up and went to the sledding mountainside. Our boys, niece, and nephew were having some great runs down the hillside. Nathan and I decided it was our turn. Nathan gave me a push and off I went. It was a great ride. Wind in my face, fast, and a bit scary. We were told that if you made it all the way to the creek it was a good run. I made it all the way to the creek. My brother in law was shouting at me "Belinda that was a great ride, you did great!" He came over to me and asked if I was o.k? Do you remember the title of this blog entry? Yes, I hit several bumps. The first one was o.k., but the 2nd one I think it was, gave me quite a jerk. I found out today (a week to the day later) that I actually fractured my T-12 vertebrae. I have had a good day today. No muscle spasms to speak of, but I still have some tightness and pain in my back.

This year has been a good one in the Nease household, but it has been an unusual year, especially the last six months. In March, Nathan mentioned to me that he wanted to look into applying to a new school that was coming to Abilene. I asked him if this was what people referred to as a mid-life crisis. He told me, no, of course. The new school is a T-STEM school. Which stands for Texas - Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math. With his Engineering degree he thought this would be a great fit for him. It is also incorporates the Project-Based Learning model. He use to always do projects with his students, but those had faded out of his curriculum to make sure he covered everything he needed to. His students were taking classes that were preparing them for an AP test and he wanted them to do well on the test. This new school will be different from what students are currently experiencing in Abilene. Nathan taught at Cooper High School for 23 years. He would have been happy to remain at CHS or have a chance to try this new way of teaching. He was hired and is having a great time. It has been a whole lot of work starting a new school, writing his own curriculum, and working with the public to ensure their support of this new school. If you want to learn more about the school look at this website. http://www.newtechfoundation.org Daniel is also attending this school and loving it. Nathan was also awarded the first Elite Educator this year. You may still be able to see him on the bigcountryhomepage.com

Nathan's new position meant he would have to go to Grand Rapids, Michigan for a week of training. We decided to make this trip into a family vacation. You can read about this trip in an older post. One thing I did not mention in the older post is that when we went to Graceland our guys comment about it was, "Elvis was not home". On our way home we spent a day and night in Chicago. Some of David's great photography can be viewed in the movie he made at the end of this post.

When we got back from our trip, I went to an annual doctor's appointment and again it was suggested I have a hysterectomy. It is something the doctor and I have been talking about for several years. We decided that it would be better to get it done now rather than waiting for an emergency. On July 29th, I had this procedure done. I was almost ready to start school when it started. The first day I only went for half a day. The next day I made it the whole day. I have a new boss at Abilene High School so we sat on some comfy new couches and got to know each other. This surgery though was almost like a domino effect on my life. I had several more test over the next few months. Two days before Thanksgiving I was told I needed to have my gall bladder removed. The surgeon we saw though said if he was me he would not have it removed. I had not been having any pain in that area so he did not see it as a necessary procedure. I have been rejoicing ever since, but asking the LORD to make it plain to us before the end of the year if I should have it removed since I had met my deductible. Well that does not matter anymore, because in the next few days or so I will meet my deductible again this year. Nathan and I have decided that I should have a MRI to make sure we are just dealing with a fracture in the T-12 and not anything else.

David is doing great. Economics about ate his lunch this past semester. He was so happy when December 18th, hit and he knew he would never have to step foot in that classroom again. He has been accepted at the University of North Texas in Denton. He would like to major in Photography and minor in Jazz Bass. He is still the bass player for Revolution. Check the group out on www.youtube.com Old Joe Clark and New Country


Derek has rented his own place just about 3 blocks from us. We still do not see him very often. He was able to be with us over the holidays. One of the main reasons we went to Colorado is because one of Derek's good friends was getting married on New Year's Eve. Derek was one of his groomsmen and he also sang during the ceremony.

We grieved the loss of a sweet friend this year. Linda Dent went home to be with her savior. Another friend lost her son this year.

Nathan and I celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary in Dallas, TX this year. We ate at a nice restaurant in the Las Colinas area. We went to Tyler for a quick weekend trip. It was a lot of fun to get away October 31st weekend. On another trip we went on this summer Nathan and I met Brent Musburger in our hotel elevator. His comment to Nathan was, "I don't have to guess who you are rooting for this weekend." Of course he had his burnt orange shirt on. As a family we went to Shallowater to go through a Corn Maze. It was a lot of fun.

Our family rejoiced as two of our friends accepted Jesus as their personal savior this year. Daniel and Lyndsay made the most important decision they will make in their lives. Where they will spend eternity?

Several of our friends married this year: Marissa and Andrew, Jasa & Adam, Wes and Suz, Tim M, Johnathan B. We also have had friends have babies: Sarah and Chris welcomed their third baby into their lives; Aylin and Luke also welcomed Number 3 as well as Anissa and Mark. All of these ladies had still births last year so we are very thankful that God has blessed them with a precious new life to hold and cherish. Also Lucy has a new baby brother.

We are proud of the Abilene High eagles for winning state in Football this year. I even dressed up to show my spirit at two of the pep rally's this year.

We are praying for our new President, Tiger Woods, men and women fighting for our freedom, and for many friends and family.