Science and my book collection

I remember early in college, my book collection (maybe 10) could fit nicely on the small shelf above my computer. A year after graduating, I have enough books to fill five decent-sized shelves in my room.

The increase is mostly due to my increasing interest in science over the past 12 months. Now that I don’t have homework to do, papers to write, chapters to read, presentations to make, I can learn what I want when I want.

I was never a great science student. But I have learned that science isn’t just memorizing boring facts; it’s a way of looking at the world around you — a deep understanding.

Consider that all living organisms on this planet share a common ancestor. If you trace your genealogy and one of a maple tree back billions of years, you would find that you share relatives. You are, literally, distant cousins with that maple tree.

Or consider that the sun is one of 200 billion — written out as 200,000,000,000 — stars in our galaxy. And there are hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe. Think of the kinds of life that may be out there, orbiting one of those other suns.

I have a finite amount of breaths left to live. I would be remiss to fail to understand the universe I find myself in before it’s too late.

Busy, draining two days

I am one of two reporters who will cover a local (as in Lorain) baseball team. The Lorain County Ironmen compete in the Prospect League, a league for college players with at least one year of NCAA eligibility left.

The owner of the team is a guy who played for the Indians in the early 1980s, Kevin Rhomberg. “Super” Joe Charboneau, who won the 1980 AL Rookie of the Year award, is the team’s hitting coach.

Opening day was Friday night. Len Barker, who threw a perfect game for the Indians in 1981, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. I got to speak with Barker and Charboneau during the evening, which was pretty cool.

I finished my story on the Indians affiliated with the team and left work around 11:30 p.m. After an hour of driving and an hour of winding down, I got to bed around 1:30.

Then I woke up at about 5 a.m. to drive to Columbus to cover the state track championships. I was down at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium for about 12 hours — 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

There was a ton of people in the stands (and all around the stadium) and a ton of other writers there, so it was an interesting experience.

Rain and thunder delayed action two separate times. Three of our local athletes won state titles and a dozen or so others placed. While it was an extremely long and draining two days, I felt very accomplished.

I crashed the next day, sleeping for more than ten hours. I think I’m fully recovered now, and I still work five more days until my next day off.