Chris Schnittka:  

Life Working on my dissertation. I'm getting a Ph.D. in science education after nearly a decade of teaching middle school science, which was a career post-engineering. My daughter Jessica and I started our schooling at the University of Virginia the same semester, fall of 2004 and she will graduate a year before me! Dan and I have been married since 1985 and our two oldest (girls) are at university this year. Daniel, 16, gets all the attention. It's amazing how the time has flown. Last summer I went back to Chicago for a visit and saw my old elementary school, Bret Harte. The door was locked, but I peered inside and spent some time with old pals Becca and Jonathan, whom I hadn't seen since I was 12. A few years ago, "Arrow" (that famous 70s rock band) had a reunion in honor of Mark Bell, our sound engineer, who died in March 2003. We had a blast reliving old times and creating some new memories. I'm quite busy with a combination of activities; writing, presenting papers, doing research, illustrating a book, painting, and neglecting my garden. I've been running pretty regularly after a failed attempt in 1983. It's good. I survived a battle with cancer in 2005, so this is very good. In the words of Murph the Great, "Life is purple." School School memories... Gaines School Elementary: the smell of the cleaner used in the bathrooms. Mrs. Adams, my 3rd grade teacher, and Elizabeth Few, the only friend I remember. There were twins in my class, Alvin and Calvin. I remember them. St. Joseph's: I loved the nuns, Sr. Marie Pierre and the math teacher, Sr. Joseph. I had a crush on a boy named Joe, whom I used to carpool with. I would always tug on his tie (we had to wear uniforms) and my best friend was Kristen Dutrow. We made up a secret sign language and were quite ...Expand for more