Bowl Trip

San Antonio Riverwalk (see more)

Northwestern University and Rice University are not known for football glory, but this year both schools were in bowl games. What's more both bowl games are in the state of Texas. Road trip! First, it was down to San Antonio on December 29 to see the Northwestern Wildcats take on the University of Missouri in the Alamo Bowl. NU lost an exciting contest in overtime, 30-23. Then, it was on to Houston on December 30, where the Rice Owls owned Western Michigan 38-14 in the Texas Bowl. Then, it was back to Richardson to celebrate New Year's Eve at home.

Beijing Journal

John spent the summer in Beijing, China, studying at Tsinghua University, seeing the sites, and attending the Olympics (as seen on NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams).

Lesotho Log

Scott spent July in southern Africa, in the country of Lesotho.

July 15, 2008

"Everything is going very well here! Lesotho is awesome and you should visit sometime. It's been a great experience to see Masianokeng after talking about it in the class that I took (though I never thought that I would say that).

Celebratory gunshots

"This holiday season, Dallas residents are again reminded about the tragedies that can result by recklessly firing weapons into the air. Unfortunately, these celebratory bullets often come down on innocent men, women and children. Dallas Police remind residents that those who fire into the air will face jail time or major fines. So far this year the City has reported more than 14,000 incidents of random gunfire."

Dallas City Hall press release

Our Recognized School District

The Richardson Independent School District achieved a rating of "Recognized" in the annual accountability ratings for Texas schools. There are four ratings: Exemplary, Recognized, Acceptable, and Unacceptable. The RISD was the largest school district in the state to earn the "Recognized" rating. Congratulations to everyone involved in the RISD, including Ellen, the linchpin of RISD's crown jewel, its Fine Arts program. :-)