My father-in-law

My father-in-law is a really cool guy. I've liked and respected him since the moment I first met him 24+ years ago. We met when my wife and I (we weren't married then) introduced our parents to each other at our college graduation in 1984.

I think the fact that I was headed to grad school at Penn State, just like he had done, helped him to like me as well. He came from a working class family and went on to earn multiple degrees in electrical engineering from Penn State. He taught at Penn State and then at Bucknell (where my wife and I went to school), spent some time in the power industry, and then moved to Vermont to teach at Norwich University. He's been there for most of the last 28 years.

He's still teaching and he's doing it because he loves it. Tomorrow is his 80th birthday.

There is a very nice article about him in today's Montpelier newspaper.

My in-laws have made trips to visit my family when we lived in CA, when we lived in AK, and now we're lucky to live close to them. My father-in-law and I have had some really memorable fishing days over the years, although I haven't spent much time fishing the past few years. In 1997, we had a truly memorable day of fly fishing on the upper Connecticut River, on the VT/NH border. We caught native rainbow, brook, and brown trout that day - lots of them. I caught the biggest trout I've ever caught on the east coast that day. But, the best part of the fishing hasn't really been the fish; it's just been the time spent with a man that I respect a great deal.

Tomorrow night, I'll be cooking dinner for him and and my mother-in-law, and my brother-in-law and his wife and their kids. I'm really looking forward to celebrating his birthday with him and his entire family.

Workouts? I did an upper body lifting session last night, and I'm going to try an easy run after work tonight. The hamstring still feels a bit tight, but better. Last night, after my lifting, I spent a lot of time using a foam roller to work on the tight spots.