CCPS Reduces Opportunities for Student Athletes

With good intentions, Carroll County Public Schools have declared that students may now participate in two sports in a single season.  They sent this email to parents recently:

Carroll County Public Schools will be moving forward with the opportunity for Dual Participation for their student-athletes beginning in the fall of 2014. It is essential for all stakeholders to be informed of the following protocols, procedures and information:

Student-athletes wishing to participate in two extra-curricular sports activities in the same season will need to obtain a request form from their athletic director.

Head coaches of both sports must agree to the student-athlete's dual participation. 

The student-athlete must designate both a primary sport and a secondary sport before the beginning of the first allowed practice as determined by the MPSSAA.

A primary sport will take precedence over a secondary sport when there is a conflict of schedule or other matter that could lead to a conflict - 2 exceptions:

If the secondary sport has a contest and the primary sport has practice, the contest will take precedence.

In the event of a contest conflict, if the primary sport is at the sub-varsity level and the secondary sport is at the varsity level, the varsity contest will take precedence over sub-varsity contests

The secondary sport must be at the varsity level.

The student-athlete must practice in both sports. The amount of practice time must meet the agreed upon requirements of the head coaches of those sports involved.

Practice time restrictions will be adhered to during heat acclimatization days per MPSSAA guidelines

The student-athlete and parents/legal guardians must sign an application of dual-sport participation before the first practice session the athlete attends.

Prior to the first scheduled contest for either sport, the student-athlete, parents/legal guardians, head coaches of both sports, athletic director and principal must sign the contract of dual-sport participation.

The high school athletic director and high school principal will serve in the capacity of advisors and final judgments on matters concerning dual-sport participation.

The athletic fee for a dual-sport participant shall be $140.

Often decisions are made that have unintended consequences.  With some students filling spots on multiple sports teams, other less talented student athletes will be cut and not given the opportunity to participate in sports.  Many students, like myself, lacked athletic prowess, either by size, in my case, or in talent, but still want to participate in extra-curricular activities.  I now get the feeling that the school system wants those less talented students to go pound sand.  There's always the photography club at Liberty High School that NEVER met during the entire year, right?

What are your thoughts on this decision?

Identify This Fish

My son caught this fish at Piney Run Park last week and we're not quite sure what it is.  He initially thought it was a lake chub sucker, but the fin coloring doesn't match any fish picture we've seen.  This fish has pink coloring, whereas most have a continuous coloring or are translucent.

Note the pink tips on the dorsal, anal, pelvic, and caudal fins and the pinkish underbelly and mouth, along with the faint darker spots and darkish colors above the lateral line.

Sorry the picture is blurry.  I took several pictures with my iPhone, but the camera app insisted that I wanted a picture of the background and not the fish.

Thoughts?  If it is a lake chub sucker, any idea what variety it is?

For you nature lovers, we returned this fish to his home and he swam away.

Moved In Eldersburg - Copy Post

This probably happened 6 months ago, but for documentation purposes, here it is.

The Copy Post previously occupied a unit on the bottom back level of Londontowne Square near the MyCare Express.  It has since moved next to Oscar's and Total Discount Liquors in the Eldersburg Plaza.  You may recall that a strip mall church was moving in, but they were shut down when they tried to make renovations without the appropriate permits.

Unfortunately for all of Copy Post's customers, there usually is not a lot of parking in the fire lane.

Port Deposit Fishing Report

In our quest to fish in every county in Maryland, my son, my nephew, and I headed to Port Deposit in Cecil County last weekend.

Our original plan was to go fishing in Harford County at Conowingo Dam, but we had a lot of rain in the few days leading up to the weekend, so we were greeted with this sign.  This is not a sign that my son wants to see.

And they weren't kidding.  Here's the pavilion where you can normally fish.  It tends to be a bit hazardous when there are waves breaking over the sidewalk.

Here's a tree that's mostly underwater.  The worst part is that there were fish jumping like crazy here.  But we couldn't get to them.



This is the water out in the middle of the river.  A wee bit rough.



This is Conowingo dam.  Not all of the locks are open, but enough to make a big mess downstream.



One of the best parts of being at Conowingo is getting to see all of the wildlife.  Here is a black cormorant.



I love this picture of a blue heron flying away from me.



I also saw some orioles, some turkey buzzards, and some ospreys.  Other birdwatchers were there and they said they saw bald eagles, but I wasn't able to find any.

Once I got my fill of natures and pictures, we headed across the dam, then down Route 222 and drove down the east side of the river to Port Deposit.  We stopped at Marina Park and found our spot.  This was our view looking south down the Susquehanna River.  The first bridge is the I-95 Tydings Memorial Bridge, then there is a train bridge, then the Route 40 Thomas J. Hatem bridge, then another railroad bridge.  Lots of bridges.

I snapped this picture of a blue heron flying away from this seagull.  After I took it I realized that he had a fish in his mouth.

We all caught a bunch of white perch, though none were that big.  I probably caught 4 or 5, my son perhaps caught 30 and likewise with my nephew.  We caught nothing else.  Just white perch.  Old Man Jenkins next to us caught a catfish and a small striped bass.

One of the reasons I only caught 4 or 5 fish is that I get easily bored with fishing, so I walk around and take pictures.  Here is the Gerry House where General Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette boarded once.  You may know just him as General Lafayette, one of George Washington's most trusted generals.  Living history!  Though I don't think Lafayette parked his Honda Accord in the alley.

Here is Joe's Grog House, which looks like a cool place to hang out.

The Port Deposit side of the river is very steep.  There is another street at the top of this hill with the terraced wall that has small waterfall running through it.

And what's a fishing trip without a reference to Ayn Rands Atlas Shrugged?  This happened to be spray painted in the back of the Port Deposit Post Office.

Now Open in Eldersburg - Stratosphere Trampoline Park

The Stratosphere Trampoline Park is now open in the former London Fog Warehouse.  I hear the trampolines are made of double breasted lightweight raincoats that are stitched together.  My son went to a trampoline park in Columbia.  He said it was fun....for about 10 minutes.  But then you get tired of jumping around.  I wonder if they offer adult sessions at night.  Remember Girls on Trampolines from The Man Show?

CKCS Food Studio - What's Up?

If you've driven down Liberty Road through Eldersburg lately, you may have noticed that brightly painted neon green house next to Harper's is now painted with warmer Earth tones that are less deafening to the eyes.

I "Googled" CKCS Foods, but found no information that it was closed, but the sign is down.  The Facebook page is still up.  Any insider information?

This was then:

This is now:

Open in Eldersburg - Stratosphere Trampoline Park

It finally opened today - the Stratosphere Trampoline Park.  I can't wait to go there and bounce all the way to the stratosphere.  If I'm unable to bounce that high, do you think I can sue them for false advertising?

The facility is in the old London Fog warehouse.

April - A Month in Review

Late Nite talk show host and purported comedian David Letterman announced that he was retiring in 2015.  This prompted millions to ask the question, "Is he still on television?"  Letterman started losing his audience en masse when his comedy became partisan, and took a bigger dive when Jimmy Fallon took over The Tonight Show with the added bonus that Jimmy Fallon's actually funny.

Beau Biden announced that he was running for Governor of Delaware.  When asked what his qualifications were to run for Governor, he said, "I'm Joe Biden's son!"  Good luck, Delaware.

A South Korean ferry MV Sewol capsized quicker than a New Jersey governor's campaign to run for President.  Sadly, nearly 300 students lost their lives.  The captain was then arrested.  He reportedly told the boat full of students to stay in their quarters rather than seek evacuation, then he himself abandoned ship long before others.

The Los Angeles Clippers proved that time travel does exist.  Clippers owner Donald Sterling traveled from 1968 South Carolina to 2014 and brought with him the racist mentality that had existed and was caught on tape with his trophy girlfriend extolling her for hanging out with "them".

Speaking of sports, the New York Yankees got into a bit of trouble when Hispanic pitcher Michael Pineda got caught with a bucket of pine tar hanging from his neck.  Yankees manager Joe Girardi hinted at some communication problems because Pineda only speaks Spanish.  Maybe there are no Spanish speaking players on the Yankees?  Hahahahaa!!!  Apparently Pineda didn't know you couldn't cheat.  Are the Yankees cheaters or liars?  Or both?

April witnessed the death of the world's tallest short actor Mickey Rooney. Ironically, Rooney was 93 years old and 93 centimeters tall.