Yes, you in the back?!?

Yeah, we suck!

2010-08-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

Okay so we definitely suck at keeping this thing updated. Thought I should though since I was complaining about other people not updating theirs and I wouldn't want my glass house to break from all my stone throwing.

So here's an update of our fabulous lives...

...Brian

Brian has finished his first year of his Masters. He spent an awesome time this summer in New York and has some great stories and pictures from that trip that maybe you will see some day. Currently he is working his butt off at one too many jobs and trying going to school. He will be needing lots of support, which I will be supplying! One of his new jobs is working at the UI Sustainability Center, which is a really amazing opportunity for him and he's really enjoying it. We're not seeing much of each other, but we still do see each other sometimes and are having a blast together (can't believe we've been married for almost four years)!

...Kelly

I finished up my Masters in Teaching this June. I'm happy I did it and really glad its done. Started being a TA for the chemistry department again (which is really nice...happy to be back in the Chemistry department). I also started taking a Nuclear Reactor Operations class to learn how to become a Reactor Operator. Yeah, you read that right. I started training on Friday and am looking to take the exam in January to get my license. It's been a really amazing experience just this week and I'm looking forward to learning doing more everyday.

The above picture is a picture of the core of the WSU reactor (the windows in the back are to the control room...that's where I sit!). The blue glow is from electrons moving faster than the speed of light through water, creating something kind of like a sonic boom. On Friday I got to actually start up and bring to full power the reactor. I myself created this glow...I'm a little proud. This new goal for me is something that is really exciting. I am really passionate about something for the first time in a while (at least since the whole education program bust). It's definitely something that I wasn't planning on in the beginning but is going to be really beneficial for Brian and I.

Be prepared in the next few months to hear a lot about this, and to learn more than you ever wanted to about reactors and nuclear chemistry...

...get excited people!

New Google Toys

2010-04-29T19:47:00.000-07:00

So there are a few things in this world that I despise. First, dumb voicemail messages (see "After the Beep") Second, group projects. Third, syncing (see "Why Can't Microsoft Play Nice?" and "I am a Syncing Fiend").

The voicemail hatred should be self-explanatory as well as my syncing woes. The group projects thing ... basically it comes down to logistics. By the time the group figures out what time to meet, who should take care of what, when to collaborate, etc. etc. I feel like most of the time I could have just done the project myself. While I'm never going to get away from voicemail, group projects or syncing at least the good people over at Google have understood my pain and decided to make them easier to deal with by creating:

Google Voice (Thanks for the b-day present Turchins). Imagine never having to check your voicemail again to hear, "Hey it's me. Call me back." Thanks to Google Voice, you'll never have to again, unless you want to. Basically what Google Voice does is transcribe your voicemails and sends it to you in a text and/or email. You can read it instantly and then decide whether you want to call the person back or shun them forever. "Awesome!" you say? Wait, there's more. You can filter your calls to different voicemail messages based on who is calling. So now I can have a standard greeting play for whoever but let Kelly know I'm not ignoring her calls, I'm just in class. Plus, you have the option of signing up for a Google phone number that can then route your calls to your cell, your home phone, a business phone, or any combination based on who calls. Best of all, it's free.

Google Mobile and Google Sync. If you have Gmail, use Google Calendar, and have a smartphone, you definitely need to check this out. Before I had to use Outlook or something else to sync contacts, calendars and mail to my phone. Not anymore. After installing a free app on my iPhone and setting up my existing accounts I was all set to sync, no computer software needed.

Google Wave. I totally stumbled across this by seeing an ad on the side of a website for a Google Wave book for developers. "Google Wave? What's that?" I asked myself. Then I asked Google. After seeing a few videos on it here and here, I requested an invite because I had to have it. I was working on a group project at the time and we were having a really hard time working out times to meet and exchange information and files. Google Wave would have solved those problems. It's better to check it out for yourself but basically imagine combining e-mail, instant messaging, photo and file sharing, in a completely collaborative environment all through your web browser. I'm still figuring out all the quirks and I don't really have anyone to 'wave' with to test it out on a real project but I can't wait until I do.

In the end, thanks Google, for taking the things I hate and turning them into toys I want to play around with.

P.s. It's not from Google so it doesn't really fit the theme of the post but Prezi, is the next toy I want to use for a presentation sometime. Powerpoint and other slide based presentations just became obsolete.

Testing iPhone app

2010-03-05T11:50:00.001-08:00

iMapMyRide: Jan 29, 2010 4:31 PM
Find more Bike Rides in Pullman, Washington

The Peterson Clan Year Two

2009-10-25T23:45:00.001-07:00

For the second year in a row we took pictures of our dear friends the Peterson's! You've seen them grace the posts of our blog before...they've got two adorable boys who are often the objects of our camera's affection. Last year the difficult boy was Dainen. At the ripe ol' age of 2 Dainen did not want to cooperate with the photographers. This year though Dainen was a dream...saying cheese...smiling really big...guess if you photograph a kid enough you just train 'em. This year the difficult Peterson boy was our little Caleb. Caleb was a perfect baby, never cried, barely ever made any sort of fuss. He's been making up for lost time since he turned 1, and today played the part of "trouble" like an Oscar winner. Even with squirms and fussing we still got some great pictures and I'd like to share a few with you all...

How cute are they?

The Angel Child (how unusual for our "I need more bacon" boy!

Good giggles

The Pullman Wheat

A little Caleb attitude...

Some playful mom and dad time...

Okay and here's my favorite shot of the day...it was not posed just a random shot Brian took when he told Elise and Jaaron to center themselves in between giggles and poses and this is what came out. I call it the Super Model shot... (oddly enough I think Elise looks kinda like my mom in this one)

So there's some of our latest work. We have another couple that we're friends with who take pictures too, so hopefully in the next few weeks we'll take a day and do a photographer swap and we can finally get some pictures of Brian and I up here!

Love you all. Sorry we're boring but things have been absolutely insane here. Had a little "I don't want to be a MIT student" melt down this week but things are getting better. We'll try and keep you all posted whenever we can!

A Week in the Life . . . Hubby

2009-09-19T12:57:00.000-07:00

By popular demand . . . here's my 'typical' week, or at least what I'd like to be 'typical'. I mean, this is what my week should be like, but due to projects, church responsibilities and field trips to Portland I haven't had a 'typical' week since the semester began.

And next week doesn't look any better.

Monday: Wake up around 7:30 am by wife's alarm. 'Nudge' wife lightly with foot to wake her up because the alarm doesn't cut it anymore. Repeat every 9 minutes until 8:00 or 8:15 when Kelly gets out of bed 'nudging' (a.k.a. kicking) me as she leaves as if I was the one snoozing the alarm repeatedly. Go back to sleep while wife leaves me alone as she eats, works out, and showers. Finally wake up to glares from wife as she tells me to really get out of bed. Glare back. Get up, shower, dress and eat breakfast of dry cereal drowning in milk (it only gets gross if you don't eat it fast enough). Grab books and drive to Moscow. Finish up weekend's homework in studio until class starts at 2:30 and something is usually due. Finish class at 5:30 and scratch head figuring out what just happened and wondering what 'archiTECTONIC' really means. Continue to work on homework due on Tuesday until work. Work from 9:00 to midnight at the Library. Go home to passed out wife, tell her I love her, try to figure out grunted reply, and go to sleep.

Tuesday: Wake up at 4:45 am. Perform morning alarm ritual (see Monday) until 5:05 when wife runs out of room leaving me to sleep in peace. Wake up at 7:30, shower, dress, eat (only if I didn't actually wake up at 8:30) and drive to Moscow. Go to class from 9:30 to 1:30, eat lunch then work on homework (usually reading for class at 5:00 that should have been finished over the weekend). Go to class at 5:00, discuss philosophy and architectural theory regarding modernity and post-modernity until 8:00. Scratch head and try to figure out what mimesis means as I drive home. Eat whatever I can find for dinner, watch TV and proceed to fall asleep on couch. Wake up and go to bed around 1:00 am when wife drags me in there.

Wednesday: See morning ritual for Monday. Hopefully ride bicycle to Moscow instead of drive, 'shower' again with baby wipes in bathroom of architecture building, dress, work on studio homework until 2:30 when class starts and something is usually due. Finish class at 5:30, scratch head . . . . Ride bicycle home, shower (yes, again) because Kelly tells me I stink and won't get close to me. Spend time putting off homework, watching TV and discussing what to do for dinner. Go to bed.

Thursday: See morning ritual for Tuesday. Go to class from 9:30 to 1:30, eat lunch and . . . oh yeah, I haven't had a normal Thursday . . . work on homework in studio until work at 4:30. Work at the library from 4:30 to 9:00. Go back to studio and work on homework until midnight (Kelly's not home anyway). Go home, fall asleep on couch . . . see Tuesday and console Kelly while she cries.

Friday: Wake up at 8:00 to wife's alarm, repeat alarm ritual until 9:00. Get up realizing wife is 'feeling wild' (a.k.a. dead tired), shower, dress and eat. Hopefully, ride bicycle to Moscow, 'shower' in bathroom, change, work on homework for studio until 2:30 when something is usually due. Studio from 2:30 to 5:30. Forget about scratching head because it's the weekend! Ride home, shower, see wife (remember her? She's the one that keeps kicking me in the morning). Hang out with wife, friends or whatever, the whole time feeling guilty because I should be working on homework. Go to sleep around 11:00 but probably more like 12:30 because I refuse to be old.

Saturday: Wake up at 6:00. Hit snooze button . . . oh how the tables have turned. Jump out of bed at 7:00 because I slept through the alarm or snoozed it saying, 'five more minutes,' and so did Kelly. Throw clothes on, forget about showering and breakfast, tell Kelly goodbye as she sleeps peacefully, and speed off to work. Unlock library door apologizing to Ian, my morning shelver, because I was 5 minutes late. Work at library until 1:30 (a.k.a. do homework, who wants to check out books that early on a Saturday anyway?). Go up to studio and work on homework until I get sick and tired of school, usually around 8:00 or later (Kelly's not home anyway) depending on amount of homework that needs to get done, or can't be put off any longer. Drive home, eat whatever I can scrounge up in the kitchen. Make a dent in the heaps of dishes that have been piling up all week, of which I've used very few. Watch TV, hopefully soccer that TIVO wonderfully records. Fall asleep before halftime, wake up when Kelly gets home and gets mad because the house is a mess and I was just sleeping on the couch. Go to sleep around midnight.

Sunday: ('The boys' only come over about twice a month so this account is what happens the other half of the month.) Wake up to 10:00 am 'nudging', (usual morning alarm rituals apply). Shower, dress, eat if there's time. Go to church until 2:00, come home and take nap with wife. Jump for joy because we are going to Elise's for dinner (she actually cooks) or 'happily' eat the 'adventure' Kelly prepared ('I don't care what it tastes like, it smells like feeesh'). Watch the rest of the soccer game from last night, unless Kelly wants to pay attention to the TV in which case watch something she likes to see. Go to bed.

Lather, rinse, repeat . . .

Like Kelly, this isn't a pity post. We choose to do this. It may seem like a lot, but usually we can handle it. One final note: Kelly's semester is much busier than what she's used to taking on, mine is intentionally less busy than I'm used to . . . the idea is that we still balance the equation out. I think Saturday night illustrates that this probably isn't the case.

A Week in the Life...

2009-09-03T23:00:00.000-07:00

...of Kelly Henry. Wife, Daughter, Manager, Apartment Coordinator, Tutor, Student, and Chemistry Teacher Extraordinare!

So my mother wanted me to write down my weekly schedule...to amaze people, to explain my both physical and mental absences from society lately or to shock people....I'm not entirely sure but I figured since I had a few minutes sitting here in the theater late at night I would oblige her. So here it is a week in the life of me...Kelly Henry.

Monday: Wake up at 8:00am. "Nudge" husband lightly with foot to get him out of bed too. Eat a breakfast of dry Rice Crispies ('cause with milk they get too gross). Talk to self and mutter to the workout DVD ladies about doing the DVD. Work out and sweat like a pig. Take a shower to feel like a real human being. Go into bedroom and tell husband to really get out of bed. Get dressed and ready for the day. Go to class from 10am-1pm. Learn about teaching high school science classes and try not to get slapped by people for your opinions. Go home, eat a quick lunch of...who really knows. Go to work at the movie theater at 2:20pm. Work until 7pm. At 7pm, rush to Stephenson complex and tutor chemistry students until 9:00pm. Drag self back to car and drive home. Say hi to imaginary husband as you walk in the door so as to confuse the creepers in the parking lot. Work on homework until 11:30 or midnight. Go to bed. Wake up at 12:45am when husband crawls into bed and grunt some sort of goodnight.
Tuesday: Wake up at 4:45am. Snooze alarm until 5:05am. Run into shower cursing self for using stupid snooze button. Shower. Eat breakfast of dry cereal again. Put on makeup (hopefully the full face not just half but who knows...). Attempt to dry and do hair to be presentable. Get dressed. Grab a lunch, typically peanut butter, banana and honey sandwich and some dry cereal to snack on during school. Get in car and blast the music to keep self awake. Drive to Safeway parking lot. Sit in car and wait for Gage and Tony (the other poor saps heading to student teaching in the lovely Clarkston, WA "the slums of Lewiston...which is saying something"). Get in respective car for the day and drive down to Clarkston. Listen to music and chat with boys about the ridiculous-ness of the MIT program. Still driving, cause it's a freaking long way to Clarkston. Start singing to the music with the boys and giggle inside at how we've all become so close in such a short period of time! 7:20am arrive at CHS and walk through the halls waiting for Mr. Snook. 7:30am, Snook arrives. Ask him if you can help in any way. He tells you no. So you wander the halls feeling both like a student and a teacher (don't ask how). "Teach" (right now that consists of helping students with worksheets and labs...soon it should be more;) ) Physics, Chemistry, Physical Science, Consumer Chemistry ("real life" chemistry, aka. chemistry without the math), LUNCH (FINALLY!!!!), and Chemistry. Gather self together and meet the boys at the car. Leave Clarkston at 2:45pm. Drive and drive and drive, fighting sleep and talking about our days. Arrive in Pullman around 3:30-3:45pm. Then at 5:00pm (*for the next week thank goodness) go attend a Housing BBQ. Feed and serve strangers for two hours and pack up food. Leave BBQ at 6:45pm trying not to think about hamburgers or hot dogs. Drive down to the theater again and pull in. Rush into the manager's office and change quickly into something more work appropriate. Work at the theater again until closing, which happens to be 12:30am to 12:45am for the past few weeks (stinking Brad Pitt movie!). Try and do some homework after all the employees have gone home. Get home around 12:45am and eat a snack while watching TV over the sound of husband snoring on the couch. Drag husband and self to bed around 1:00am.
Wednesday: Wake up at 8:00am. Same as Monday but school until 12:00pm (whoo! one hour less). Get home and take a cat nap. Do homework until 5:00pm then go to the next BBQ. At 7:00pm come home and see husband. Spend time together doing homework, watching TV and fighting over who has to decide what to do for dinner. Go to be around 11:30pm after doing homework and realizing it will never get done.
Thursday: See Tuesday. Then cry.
Friday: No class. Sleep in to 9:00am or 9:30am if feeling wild! Get up and get ready, doing work out video again because that stupid skinny, buff girl keeps taunting you from the cover of the DVD. Clean around the house (as it has been horribly neglected all week). Do errands that have been put off all week. Do some homework. Then at 2:20pm go to the theater again (aka. second home). Work until 7:00pm. Head home to see husband...who is he again? Hang out with friends or hubby and eat dinner and enjoy self for a brief amount of time. Go to be around midnight or earlier cause you're old.
Saturday: Sleep in a little again...oh what sweet luxury! Try to tune out noises of sad husband as he leaves for work at 7:00am...that was you all week! Do work out. Shower and clean more around house. Do much needed homework and any extra errands. Maybe see...what's the word again?...oh...friends! At 5:00pm go to the theater and work until 10:30pm or 12:30am (depending on how generous Stephen is feeling...normally he's pretty generous...love that guy!). Go home and spend time with hubby. Go to sleep around midnight.
Sunday: Wake up around 8:45am and get the house ready for "the boys" to come over. Help out best friend by taking care of her two little boys (3 and 1) until church. Try to get ready with little boys following around and asking to share your cereal (even though they already had there own...I'm totally NOT selfless enough to be a mom yet!). Leave to go to church and be grateful for helpful husband and the fact that these boys, while precious and wonderful, are only a part time deal. Get home from church. Take a nap with hubby. Next, either go to Elises' for dinner...'cause she actually cooks, or eat something from home...depending on if feeling adventurous or not! Do homework. Watch some TV with hubby (tragically some soccer is usually involved). Go to bed.
...Rinse and Repeat!

I hope that that "brief" (cough!) explanation of my week helps you to see why this blog hasn't been updated and why I look a little crazy. This isn't a pity post, don't feel sorry for me. I chose this and therefore cannot complain. I just wanted to update you all on...well me!

Champions

2009-03-18T16:57:00.000-07:00

Let me present the 2009 University of Idaho Intramural Men's Rec-Indoor Soccer Champions. They even captured the score in the background. I'll be signing autographs later this week. (Left to Right, Back: Brian, Brooks, Dustin, Dane, Trevor; Front: Harmon, Conrad, Ryan)

The Me Monster

2009-02-13T12:21:00.001-08:00

So Brian Regan has this really funny bit (and I totally won't do it justice) but it's about how some people can become or already are "me monsters". Whenever there is a group discussion going on they always have to chime in with something that they themselves did in order to some how "one-up" the other person.
Anyway...long story short is that I've been meaning to blog about this for some time but haven't had the chance to do so and will now do it. However, timing isn't perfect and so now I look like a "me monster". I in no way want to detract from Brian's photography success...I just want to inform everyone of my big news.
So here goes...
drum roll please...

I recently found out that I have been accepted into the Washington State University Masters in Teaching Program!

Wahoooo!

Some of you may respond as many have already with a "well, duh". But in reality this is not the case. What with the recent economic upheaval that has been going on around the country the university has had to make some serious budget cuts (like turning off the heat in Fulmer (and all other buildings but I only care about Fulmer) after noon every day in an effort to save some money. Personally I think not having the lights on at all hours of the night would save some money too and maybe the heat could be left on until say 5pm after labs are done...but what do I know). Anyway, sidetrack finished. Well what with major budget cuts they ended up cutting a large section of the education program targeted specifically at the Masters in Teaching Program making it a much smaller program. So while some of you may have had total confidence in my abilities...I did not. And so when I got in I was both relieved and super excited. So much so that I told everyone I came into contact with that night about it...even relative strangers. So long story short I got in and I'm super excited because this is what I've been busting my butt for for the last few years and its just a huge relief to know that it wasn't all in vain.

So now that I'm done with my "me monster" bit I apologise as always for the relative cyber silence that has been going on on my end...it will probably continue for a few more months (I believe Brandon said it's something like 85 more days). I am not your typical senior and have quite a heavy load for myself this semester and so am backlogged with posts. One day I know I'll make a better contribution. But until then know that I'm thinking of you all, either while I'm working or while I'm freezing my butt off in Fulmer (I'm always here after noon!)

Gallery Update

2009-02-12T22:01:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I'll pick up my photograph from the gallery. No, not a typo, I did say photograph...singular. I got an e-mail today from the University Art Collections Manager asking me if I would be ok having my photograph of the Moon and Venus over the Kibbie Dome on display in the University Provost's office suite in the Administration Building. Apparently, Provost Doug Baker went to the exhibition and chose about 10 projects he wanted to display in his office for the rest of the semester and through the summer. I sat there staring at the e-mail, with a deer caught in the headlights look I'm sure, for about 2 minutes before I replied saying that I was extremely honored and that I was more than happy to oblige the Provost. I hope I didn't come across so giddy in the e-mail as I am here.

Photographs in Gallery

2009-02-05T11:14:00.000-08:00

Last week I entered two of my photographs into the College of Art & Architecture's Juried Art Exhibition. I found out on Monday that both of them were accepted into the Gallery. I was pretty amazed that I made it in because when I dropped off the photos there was some pretty good work already turned in, and not just photos. All I did was set up the shot and click the button, some of these are large sculptures, paintings, etc.

This first one is the Ira Keller fountain in downtown Portland. I took it while I was there on an architectural field trip during the fall semester of 07. The longer exposure, half a second, creates the effect with the water but also makes it difficult because any movement will show up blurry in the final photo. The thing that makes me the happiest about this is that I didn't have my tripod with me when I went to Portland so I had to support the camera on the ground, try to frame the shot while laying down, eyeing it through the viewfinder, propping the camera up with little rocks, the shoulder strap, etc. and setting a timer so I wouldn't shake the camera when I released the shutter.

This photo is of Venus and the Moon just last week. I took it on the 29th, the night before the entry deadline for the exhibition. The night before I had seen Venus and the Moon very close in the sky but didn't have my camera or the time to set up and take a photo. I planned to come back the next day and just hoped that they would still be fairly close. They were, but by the time I got outside to take the photo they were too close to the horizon to get a good image from where I was planning on taking it. I walked around campus a bit and took some different pictures but had to scramble to get this one taken before they "set" behind the Kibbie Dome. This time I had my tripod and remote switch for the shutter release so I didn't have to mess around with the ground and rocks. It was a good thing too because one, the angle from that low wouldn't have worked for the photo and two, I probably wouldn't have had enough time to do it. The exposure was for 8 seconds and you can actually see how far the Earth rotated in that short amount of time if you zoom in on Venus. There are also a few stars that are in the image as well that you can see a short streak as the Earth rotated.

Finally, I put these on my Flickr page, so if you want to see a larger size you can check it out. Also, if you happen to be in the area tomorrow (Friday, February 6th) between 4 and 6 you can come to the gallery opening, or stop by anytime next week as they will be up until Friday.

More on McCall

2009-01-11T15:48:00.000-08:00

I know most of you already read the Idaho Business Review, but in case you missed it back in December there was an article written about last semester's studio and the McCall project. Check it out.

McCall Design-Build Models

2009-01-06T14:45:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to put this up for a while now but keep putting it off. I took photos of all of the models we built as a studio for the McCall project this last semester. If you want to check them out they are on my Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/henrybriank/. The sets that you should see on the right side of the page will give you a better idea of the progression of the design throughout the semester.

The Benefits of a Hard Major

2008-12-07T23:57:00.000-08:00

So I'm nearing the end of the semester and only have one semester left in this five year odyssey that I've been on. These last two years have been extremely tough on me. I've had to push myself farther than I ever thought possible both mentally and emotionally. I've learned more than I thought I would ever learn and have been on several emotional roller-coasters that pushed me more than I would have liked. Overall though I'm very happy with where I am in all of this.
The thing about being a chemistry major though is that there are very few other people crazy enough to do it too. For the last few years in chemistry there are only about 12 other people in class with you. Because of this you get to know those other students really well. This can be good or bad depending on the group. For me...I lucked out...the guys that I'm graduating with are a group of really nice hilarious and fun guys. We all get along really well and have a ton of fun both inside and outside of the classroom.
Last week we had PChem Lab Orals where you have to present a powerpoint presentation about a lab experiment that you performed. During these orals, one of the guys, Trevor, started doing cartoon drawings of all of us...The PChem Presentation Action Figures!!!! These may not be as funny to those of you who don't know all the guys but I wanted to post it anyway, mostly because I think my action figure is hilarous and pretty much an on-the-nose representation of me.

In case it's not clear my action is "5 pre-recorded 200 decible phrases!" and my other favorite parts are our Professor (bottom left) "Their arch nemesis: The Insidious 'Dr. Frenchman' with Mathcad and Wine Battle Box Play set!" with Louis (the professor) saying "Sacre Bleu" and finally where to get one "Sold wherever chem students are subjected to pain, anguish and humiliation". Oh, and no you're not reading it wrong...I am the ONLY girl in that class. In fact I am the only girl graduating this year in our big ol' group of 12. Good thing I've always had more fun with guys than with girls.

Things are starting to get pretty busy around here as professors pile on all those last minute assignments. But soon we'll have a minute to take a breather and fill everyone in on the goings on around here.

Proof Positive that Brian Goes to School

2008-11-07T09:39:00.000-08:00

So it's been a while since we've posted anything, but before you get your hopes up, this one's going to be short. However, hopefully it will give you a little bit of an explanation of why we haven't posted anything. Check out the College of Art and Architecture's website. At the very bottom on the left-hand side there is a link that says "Featured Projects," click on that and see if you can pick me out of the line-up. If you need a little help, here's the link to the page.

My Final Medal Count

2008-08-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have been asking I calculated the final medal count of the Olympics to be...

China 223 points
USA 220 points

One more gold medal and we would have tied.

I am a syncing fiend

2008-08-16T17:24:00.000-07:00

Here's an update on my "Why can't Microsoft play nice?" post. Ok, not really an update just a conclusion to how I got started on the post in the first place, trying to sync my phone and my computer:

I finally got my phone to sync with Mozilla's Lightning for Thunderbird (and if you just want the calendar and not Thunderbird you can always use the stand-alone version Sunbird). Its sort of a round-about-way of getting the job done, and its not perfect, but it will work for now. So for those of you who might want to do something similar or are just curious this is how I got the job done. And if you don't read this post...I'll be ok. I realize that I'm probably the only one out there that really cares this much about using the program I want.

Starting with my phone I have the calendar and contacts sync through Windows Mobile Device Center (Vista, Active Sync in XP) to Outlook 2007 (2003 should work as well). Then using a program put out by Google called Google Calendar Sync I sync my Outlook calendar to a Google calendar (available if you have a Google account). Then using a third-party plug-in for Thunderbird/Lightning called Provider for Google Calendar I can sync my Google calendar to Thunderbird/Lightning, Ta Dah!

There are a few good things about doing it this way other than I get to use the programs I like versus the programs the Microsoft forces me too (even though I'm still forced to). First, by going through Google Calendar you have a html, xml, and ical web address that you can use to publish your calendar. For me it works that Kelly can get my calendar on her computer and subsequently her phone so she knows my schedule or vice versa. Second, again by going through Google you can have your calendar on your iGoogle homepage and therefore see it anytime you open your web browser. This lets you be updated on what you've got going on without having to open up Thunderbird/Lightning/Sunbird. Finally, it's all free (except for paying for Outlook, but I had to do that anyway).

And of course, there are some drawbacks. Hopefully, these will get resolved with future releases of software but for now they are manageable. First, Google Calendar Sync only syncs the default or primary calendars in Google and Outlook, and second, Google Calendars doesn't support categories for events. So even though in Google Calendars you can have multiple calendars on one screen and see all your events in different colors, you can only put one of those calendars into Outlook. And even though you can have different categories, as well as calendars, in Outlook, only the default calendar will sync with Google and all the pretty colors you have to categorize your events won't show up in Google either. Finally, and this might just be my computer, even though you aren't actively using Outlook for anything other than a go between, you have to have it open in order to sync with the Google Calendar Sync. Every time I have Outlook closed the Google Calendar Sync programs freezes when it tries to sync. Then usually I have to open up the task manager (ctrl + alt + delete) to stop a few errant Outlook processes before Outlook will open.

There are other utilities out there that people have claimed will make there Google Calendar Sync with Outlook with multiple calendars etc. but this method worked the best for me. A program called KiGoo, looked promising until I read that it doesn't work with Vista. Another one called RemoteCalendars looked really good but for some reason it wouldn't sync correctly (ie; I delete an event in Outlook, or from my phone, and it never deletes it from Google. Also, recurring events never synced right). Jotlet, is another web-based calendar program like Google Calendars that used another program called Funambol to sync with Outlook but I couldn't get it to work right, plus it's another service you have to sign up for. Calgoo also looked very promising but it didn't find my outlook calendars in order to sync them. Probably the best program is one called OggSync but you have to pay for it, and I'm really cheap. I downloaded a trial version and it worked great except for the fact that in the trial it only syncs the past 3 days, today, and the future 3 days. Not enough if you need to schedule a doctor's appointment 3 months in advance, but in paying for the service you should be fine.

What about contacts you ask. So far I haven't found anything that will sync them and the calendar together that is free and works. So for now I'm just going to have to deal with every so often exporting and importing my contacts from Outlook to Thunderbird, since most of the new contacts I add are on my phone, and any e-mail contacts can just stay in Thunderbird since I don't use my phone for e-mail.

Well there you have it, entirely too much information on a subject that none of you probably care about...unless you spent the past few days figuring it all out like I did.

Don't let the numbers fool you

2008-08-16T15:24:00.000-07:00

Let me start off by saying I love the Olympics. I remember watching them on TV as a kid and cheering for the USA in any sport, it didn't (and doesn't) matter if I even understood the game. But one thing I always remember doing is keeping tabs on the medal count. Don't ask me why, but I would always look at it in the newspaper. I guess I just liked seeing how many medals we actually won in the games. So when I saw that I could put the medal count on my iGoogle homepage I was really excited. I heard that China was probably going to take the medal count from us this year so I really wanted to be updated every time I opened up Firefox so I could see how we fare. I had seen the medal count on NBC and was pleased that we were ahead in total number of medals but when I looked at the iGoogle gadget it has China listed first. NBC ranked the countries by total number of medals which currently puts the US in the lead with 54 to China's 47. However in Google they rank the countries by the most gold medals, then silver, then bronze. So that puts China ahead with 27 golds to our 16. Crazy that almost half of those are from Michael Phelps. So I decided to see who was leading the medal count another way. I gave 3 points for every gold medal won, 2 for every silver, and 1 for every bronze. Crunch the numbers and you get China leading the US with 114 points to 102 . . . as of 3:30 pm Pacific time on August 16th. I can't wait to see how it all turns out, not that it really matters. I'm probably not going to move to China if they end up with more medals than us, it just gives me something to do so I don't have to think about starting classes in 9 and a half days (not that I'm counting).

Why can't Microsoft play nice?

2008-08-12T19:25:00.000-07:00

Last semester I had some problems with Outlook and syncing my calendar with my phone. I was fine with it at the time because I didn't have much variation in my day to day schedule and I could deal without Outlook, but with the fall semester starting here soon I figured I'd better figure out the whole syncing issue. While I was at it I thought I'd look into other calender programs to see if there would be something out there I liked better. In fact I like so many other programs better than Outlook because I don't need all the big business stuff that Outlook has in it...I just needed something that would sync with my phone. But then that made me remember why I had to go with Outlook in the first place. It is the only thing that will sync with my phone.

Vista comes with a mail program (Windows Mail) that is pretty decent, an address book program (Windows Contacts) and a calendar program (Windows Calendar) that I could use. The problem being that in order to sync with my phone I first had to download and install the Active Sync for Vista, Windows Mobile Device Center. Upon downloading that I found out that I needed Windows Mobile 6 in order to be able to sync with the mobile device center. After finding a download for that and installing it on my phone (by the way, up to this point this all took about 9 months from the point at which I got my computer with Vista) I connected up to my computer to sync my contacts, etc. and Windows Mail, Contacts, and Calendar, don't sync with Windows Mobile Device Center...they don't sync at all. Apparently you have to use Outlook in order for your "Microsoft phone" to sync with your "Microsoft computer" with the "Microsoft applications" that come with it.

So I have two questions, why can't Microsoft get along with Microsoft? And is there something out there that I can use instead of Outlook? I really want to get back to Thunderbird. Mozilla also has Lightning/Sunbird to use as a calender program, but from what I could find there isn't anything out there that will let me sync my phone with those programs. If only I had an iPhone that would sync with the free for everyone iTunes with whatever program I was using for e-mail/calendar/contacts.

After the beep

2008-08-04T19:38:00.000-07:00

I feel like I should change my voicemail greeting to something like this:

"Hi this is Brian, I can't answer my phone right now but that probably doesn't matter to you. You must think that by just calling me I'm going to pick up my phone, see that you called, and automatically call you back. Don't worry, I don't have anything better to do with my time, and I like returning every missed call whether I recognize the number or not. Nothing appeals to me more than awkwardly saying, 'who is this and why did you call me,' when you answer the phone. So please hang up now and wait impatiently by the phone for me to call you back."

The only thing that bugs me more, and my hypocrisy is evident, is when I get a message that simply says, "Hi, it's me, call me back." That's even more useless than not leaving a message at all. Is it that much harder to say, "Hi, it's me, Brian, I need to talk to you about _______, call me back," something that takes about 5 whole seconds more to say but reveals 100 times more information?

I envy visual voicemail, if only I had an iPhone.

Le Tour de Palouse

2008-08-02T14:47:00.000-07:00

Earlier this summer, after some car problems and rising gas prices, Kelly and I had been talking about saving some money on gas and trying to cut back on how many trips I make back and forth between Moscow and Pullman. There is a great bike path between the two towns that makes it really easy for someone to ride back and forth between the two but my bike wasn't really the right kind for commuting. So we ended up getting a road/touring bike for me and now I ride that back and forth as much as I can...ok, maybe not as much as I can, but enough to cut back a little on how much we end up paying for gas. I've put over 180 miles on the bike so far which seems like a lot, but then when you consider that the Tour de France was 2178 miles long it no longer seems like it's that big of a deal.

AWESOME

2008-07-18T18:55:00.000-07:00

Can't wait until tomorrow

One Year Later

2008-07-15T22:18:00.000-07:00

One of Brian and my favorite little kids, as you all know, is little Evalie Rippy. Yesterday, July 14th, was Miss Rippy's first birthday. Brian took baby pictures for her announcements when she was born and yesterday I got to take pictures of the birthday girl one year later. I'm working on touching these up but here are few to view, especially for her Dad who's on the west side of the state.
Enjoy...

Picking grass...

...then eating it

Who could be cuter than me?

Cutest little girl ever!

So I hope you guys didn't overdose on the cuteness...it's tough not to whenever that girl is in the room!

As promised

2008-06-30T19:49:00.000-07:00

As Kelly mentioned we took some photos of the Rippy family on Father's Day. I've been lazy and haven't posted anything up, even though I was already done editing the photos. Here are some of my favorites:

I've never tried to take a portrait of a family this big before. I just tried to get everyone looking at the camera and take as many pictures as fast as my camera can handle.

Besides Kelly and I, the Rippys had also invited their neighbors to come for dinner as well, and their children brought over their rabbits. No, the rabbits weren't on the menu but the kids had fun playing with them.

After we had eaten and the pictures were taken we all enjoyed some home-made ice cream, some obviously more than others.

As per request

2008-06-16T12:13:00.000-07:00

Brian told me that I had to write about this so I will...
As you know I took pictures of Stacey's sister's wedding this summer. Well, Stacey went to print off one of the pictures at Walmart and they flagged it as a professional picture. She had to get my permission in order to use it. This happened to us before but it was Traci's (my sister's) pictures that time. So Brian was really excited. I was too, except that that wasn't even my favorite picture from that day!

Speaking of pictures, we went to Spokane yesterday to take family pictures for Jeff's family yesterday. It was lots of fun and I'm hoping that we got some good pictures...Brian took them to work so I won't get to see them until tonight! We will put them up as soon as we've flipped through them.

Until then!

Super Librarian strikes again

2008-06-10T19:32:00.000-07:00

Is it sad that I can now type numbers with a 10-key number pad better than I can type (faster, less mistakes, and without peeking)? Not when you consider I've been typing about 5600 numbers every time I've worked at the library this past week. That's roughly 400 barcodes of 14 digits each per day. Some days like yesterday I did 620 barcodes, or 8680 numbers. I guess with all the practice its no wonder I'm getting pretty good at it. Chalk this one up as another one of my super librarian powers!

Birthday

2008-06-02T16:55:00.000-07:00

Its a birthday tradition of mine to go on a bike ride and think about good things that happened in the last year of my life. It started either right before we moved to England or right after. Either way though I try to do it every year...especially because my loving mother likes to remind be of it every year. So this year I thought I'd invite Brian along, you know we are married so I guess I could invite him into my life. But first he had to take pictures to document the tradition. So here's a look.

It was a really good bike ride and I realized that I have a lot to be happy about.

On that happy note, my sister gave me an excellent birthday gift...

It was such a great surprise and I absolutely love it! This isn't the best picture but I was doing it myself in a mirror (which explains the backwardsness). And for those of you who don't get the shirt, it's from Juno and if you don't know what Juno is then you MUST go out and rent it if not buy it! Anyway, I'm sure there will be many more pictures in this shirt in the future. Just thought I'd show you some pictures. I'm off to read some really boring and complex research papers so that I can stop feeling guilty.

Caleb Lance

2008-05-18T23:40:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity yesterday to take pictures of our friend's newborn baby Caleb. I was so excited at this chance because there is nothing I love more than the Peterson's kids. So here are some pictures from the shoot, including one of our favorite big brother Dainen...

I hope that Elise and Jaaron like these photos. I had so much fun taking these photos and am so happy that I was able to do it. We look forward to taking many more photos of these two munchkins.

Final Grades

2008-05-13T17:35:00.000-07:00

I just took a look at my final grades from this semester and they are as follows: Studio, A; Seismic and Masonry, A; Concrete, A; and despite my efforts to just not care in my Spanish class, I got an A in that one as well. So with this 4.0, my cumulative GPA is the highest it's been since my first semester of college. Back then it was a 3.87, now I have a 3.89. But with my classes that's really not that big of a deal, did I mention that Kelly passed P-Chem? Just that one class probably consisted of more work than all of mine put together, save studio.

I've become Linus

2008-05-12T19:02:00.001-07:00

I have been working on this one knitting project for a really long time, I think a year. But this last month my mom came and tore the whole project out because apparently I didn't really know what I was doing...I think I made up a stitch. And then things became so easy and I actually managed to finish it in about a month.
I made a shawl that I plan on wearing around the house like an old woman, but it also works as a thin blanket. So here is the long in process but totally worth it finished product...

Melissa and DJ's Wedding

2008-05-10T18:16:00.001-07:00

Just a quick snapshot of the wedding I shot this weekend. And for the bride (and anyone else who cares) these pictures have not been touched up or touched at all. Even though Brian has downloaded photoshop onto my new computer (aka. My Precious) but he has yet to teach me how to operate it.
So for now these are just a few pictures from yesterday.

The bride getting ready...

A cute kissing shot (there are many of these)...

The new couple...

These two were so easy to take pictures of, their personalities just shine...

A shot on a rustic and slightly poopy bench...

And a shot I stole from my sister...

So hope everyone likes these. I certainly had fun shooting these two!

Summer work

2008-04-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

I know that some of you have heard, but not all of you so I thought I'd take a minute and fill-in any lacking information about what Kelly and I will be doing this summer. Kelly will be working at the movie theater again putting in a few more hours now that she won't have classes to worry about. She will have research to worry about because she is going to get started on some preliminary research for the research she will be doing this next school year in order to graduate. I don't really know all of the details but I'm sure she could fill you in a little more. Kelly will also be working at a new job she was offered dealing with equipment checkout that the university does for local high schools...or something like that. Again, I'm not too clear on the details. This summer isn't going to be that busy with it, more or less just getting acquainted with what they do so she can put in more time this coming fall when she will be working there for work/study funds she was awarded. Finally, as if she wasn't doing enough already, when she isn't doing all of that she will be babysitting Evalie Rippy while Stacey is going to start going back to work at the theater and Jeff is hopefully going to be getting an internship in Spokane.

As for me, I'll be working this summer at the library putting in hours on the evenings and weekends. During the day I'll be taking summer architecture studio, pending on a few circumstances, and also working as a research assistant for Frank Jacobus, my current studio professor. I'm really excited for the research assistantship for many reasons. It will look great on a resume and the research will be interesting (we will be looking into defining an architectural genome that could then be used to develop design computing software, which has many different applications). Most of all I'm really excited to be a part of architectural research. Here at the university you can see that many of the professors are dabbling with different things they are researching but for the most part the student body isn't involved, unless their research involves using us as "guinea pigs." This is an opportunity where students are integrally involved in the research. I think something that has helped with this is the fact that we got a grant to fund the research and therefore have money to pay us. The interesting thing that really helped in getting me the job is the fact that I have the experience with the library. Frank was really pleased that I had that experience with the library because much of this research at this stage will be finding out what other schools are involved with similar projects and getting enough background research done so that we can find further funding in the form of other grants.

Also, if you haven't noticed already, check out my "drawing board" blog for details on the ICMA competition and my fire station design. The link should be in the upper left of this page and if that doesn't work, http://vandalarchitect.blogspot.com, is the address.

The Lundbergs

2008-04-08T10:08:00.000-07:00

Kelly and I recently drove out to St. John (between Pullman and Spokane) to (re)do a photo shoot for the Lundbergs, Jeff's sister Kelly's family. We originally tried to get some family photos for them last fall when they had just adopted the newest member to their family Marcos.

However, due to weather, lighting and kids that wouldn't really cooperate we didn't get too many good family shots. We did get some great candid shots of the kids, especially birthday cake shots of Marcos (he turned 1), but we still needed some group family shots. So this time, rather than trying a Mexican restaurant in Spokane we just went out to their house. I thought it might be worse getting the kids to cooperate there, but on the contrary they we much more mellow and easier to work with...although I'm not sure their mom thought so.

Here are some more we took. I'm currently going through them and trying to pick out the best ones and touch them up a bit, but these ones were just too good to not show them off right away.

Interactive Flash

2008-02-23T23:57:00.001-08:00

Look at what I learned to do at work tonight...click here.

Tagged!

2008-02-22T23:00:00.000-08:00

I was tagged, thanks Jeff. I really despise that fact that I now feel obligated to write 7 random things about myself. But in the spirit of things, here goes...

1. I hate chain letters/junk mail/facebook apps/anything that tries to get more people involved by a snowball effect. I will not have bad luck for the next 15 years if I don't send this on to 15 people in the next 15 minutes.

2. I own more shoes than any man should probably own...but they all serve a specific purpose you can't expect a man to play indoor soccer without indoor soccer shoes.

3. I support the WSU Cougars just as much as I do the Idaho Vandals, as far as wearing that support. But to be truthful I only own as much Vandal gear as I do because I feel I owe it to myself to have just as many Vandal things and Cougar things...but as far as style goes, WSU has U of I beat.

4. I will not be a Disneyland virgin for long...15 days, and counting

5. I never thought that in creating this blog that I would post as much as I do. I figured I was doing Kelly a favor by creating it and she would take after her sister and be the main blogger. Not that it's anything against Kelly. She really does post when she can. The only reason I have time to do it is because at the library things get really slow on Friday nights and after a week of classes I'd do anything other than work on homework.

6. We are trying to get the Dean of the Library to close the Library at 8 pm on Fridays because the computer labs shut down for maintenance at that time and therefore hardly anyone comes into the library. For example, between 8:00 and 11:00 there have been 30 people walk in or out of the library. That's not 30 people that I've helped at the desk, that's thirty pairs of legs that have triggered the gate counter. They could have just come in to use the bathroom, dropped off a book, or research the average air speed of an unladen swallow. African or European?

7. One of those patrons that I have actually helped at the desk didn't think we had a copy of the Torah because all he could find were books that had basically the Old Testament. I had to explain that what he found probably was the Torah and that the Old Testament and the Torah contain many of the same writings. Before I told him this he said he couldn't find a copy of the Bible either. While this may not be random info about me...I did know, and find it quite funny, that in the Library of Congress cataloging system religious texts are found under the two letters B and S. So the Torah's call number was BS896.A1P45.

Since you can see from #1 I am totally against tagging people and making them write 7 random things about themselves I am not tagging anyone. Plus, anyone that reads this and has a blog has already been tagged. But, if you are reading this and don't have a blog then I strongly encourage you to create one. Blogger, is pretty good. Kelly's sister Traci uses one called Blogsome. A google search will give you tons of other options and I'm betting it will take you less time than it took me to write this post. Happy blogging, and you can post your URL to your new blogs in the comments.

Breaking news

2008-01-31T09:22:00.000-08:00

The Palouse has been hit hard this week with snow. Sunday we got about 6 inches. Tuesday we got about 6 more. Last night and today we've gotten around 7 and it's still currently snowing. Both U of I and WSU have closed for the day. From what I understand this is only the third time since the U of I opened in 1889 that the University has closed due to weather. It closed once back in the 50's due to snow, later because of flooding so students could help sandbag, and today because of snow. Kelly is still on campus because she had some early classes before they announced the closure, but she's on her way home by way of the nuclear reactor. Actually WSU is still open until 10am, right now it's about 9:30. U of I closed around 8:00am. I was still asleep because I don't have class until 2:00 but my supervisor at the library called to let me know that the university was closed and so was the library. I'll try to get out and take some pictures to post so you can all get an idea of how much snow we've gotten.

Escapando a Karl Marx (Escaping Karl Marx)

2008-01-26T17:15:00.000-08:00

I have a few minutes before I have to go to work and since I haven't written an entry for a while I figured this is as good of time as any. Plus, right now I'd do anything to stop reading this article for Spanish (Like I would understand Marxism, "economic base" or "social superstructure" and how they relate to social disruption and conflict in English anyway, and he wants us to read it in Spanish!?).

School started a couple of weeks ago. This semester should be a little easier than the last. Instead of project intensive courses I just have a lot of reading to do and papers to write. I'll be honest...I can fake a paper a lot easier than I can fake a project. On the other hand I can stand to work on a project longer than a paper. I think it has to do with being able to leave one portion for a while and come back to it later while still working on the same project. For me no matter what part of a paper I'm working on, it's all the same. I still have my studio course, I will every semester, so you can periodically check my other blog for updates on that.

Work is pretty much the same as always. I forgot to mention that I was selected as one of two student employees of the year at the library. I was also given $100 of scholarship money for achieving that. Plus they decided to nominate me for the University-wide student employee of the year award. Nominations and letters of recommendation, etc. are due on Monday so I won't know for a while how that turns out, but you can be sure I'll update you all on that as well.

That's pretty much all the noteworthy happenings of my life (maybe Kelly will fill you in on hers, hint, hint). I'd better get back to Marx.

Lucky you!

2007-12-05T23:06:00.000-08:00

I just went blog crazy today! I have another blog that I created a while ago with the intention of using it as a "drawing board" for my architectural designs and ideas, but have just never gotten around to doing anything on it. But rather than work on homework tonight while I'm at work I decided to update the blogs. So lucky for you, you get new posts to read and even a new blog to check out. The link to the other blog is on the right of the screen under the "links" heading

Bob update

2007-12-05T21:28:00.000-08:00

Bob only lasted two days. We had some warmer temperatures which made him tilt and eventually crumble to pieces as he hit the ground. But luckily Kelly was able to get some better quality pictures of him in the daytime. I would get a photo of the aftermath of Bob, but the rainstorms we had come through a couple of days ago took care of pretty much all the snow we had accumulated, including Bob.

End(ing) of semester update

2007-12-05T20:12:00.000-08:00

I thought I would give a quick update on the end of semester for me, but the semester hasn't ended yet. However, I feel like I'm done because I just presented my studio project today and that is by far the biggest load off my shoulders as far as the end of the semester goes. I've also finished my steel construction class so this semester is, for all intents and purposes, over. Well, except for the set of construction drawings I need to do in my AutoCAD class and the landscape architecture portfolio for my site design class. But those won't be that hard. Anyway, so far my project in studio went well. In my critique/presentation they really thought that everything sounded good from my presentation and that the drawing read well. They offered some good feedback on the overall form of the building but going into detail here won't really help if you can't see what I'm writing about. Finally in my steel class I'm not sure what my grade was on the final exam but overall I ended up with an A. I'll let you know how my other classes turn out.

Snow

2007-11-27T13:08:00.000-08:00

While Kelly and I were in Rigby over Thanksgiving break it snowed in Pullman but by the time we got back the day before Thanksgiving most of it had melted. So when it started snowing last night I was pretty excited, Kelly wasn't. If you don't already know I love snow...at least until about the middle of January. The first snows of winter are always my favorite because they always have big flakes and they are usually pretty peaceful. Last night wasn't too much of an exception. I was a little windy but the snow was wet and abundant...perfect for making snowmen. So I'm very pleased to introduce you all to Bob, our snowman. He'll be in town for awhile if you want to visit. We aren't sure when he'll go away (or when a drunken college student stumbles into him and knocks him over), but for now he's here to stay.

P.s. Sorry about the poor image quality, these were taken with my cell phone, so they obviously aren't that great.

On A Happier Note

2007-11-10T21:58:00.000-08:00

So as I was finishing up that last blog I realized that it was a bit of a downer. So I thought I'd do a bit of a more light-hearted post now...just a few quick things that have been making Brian and I laugh lately!

Dainen Peterson (and Elise and Jaaron too)
One of the new apartment coordinator couples this year are the coolest people ever. We LOVE them. We also love their little boy Dainen. He is a super cutie! Not only is he cute though but he also has the sweetest personality. We usually get to sit next to them at church and Dainen is just so funny with his snacking. Just this last Sunday we came in a few minutes late (which is very unusual for us of course) and went to sit next to them. When we got there I gave Dainen a quick wave and he looked up and gave me the sweetest wave and then crawled over his parents to come sit with me and Brian. We fed him cheerios the entire time which of course makes us pals and played games with Brian and his funny faces. Dainen is just a super cute and fun kid who brightens my day. To describe him I'll relay a story Jaaron told us. Dainen was at swim lessons. Things were going well. Then at one point the swim instructor looked over a Dainen. He pointed at her with his finger and then motioned for her to come over with his fingers. To me that is the funniest image. This little kid pointing at an adult and having such authority to have them come over to him. It don't know about you but it cracked-me-up!

Evie Rippy (and her parents too)
Another person that's got me giggling everyday is little Miss Evie Rippy. She's just the sweetest little girl who can give the best smiles. Stacey and Jeff are kind enough to let me steal her whenever I go over there. She's just a little bundle of joy. She's my girl. We love to go over there and play with her, and if ever she's a fussy I just sing the Nutmeg library to her and she quites down (possibly to shut me up) but it works so who cares. The way I feel about Evie can be summed up by a quote from Elliot on Scrubs "I'm gonna go hold the crap outta that baby."

So, yes, there may be a pattern. But it's no secret that I love babies. And since it will be awhile until Brian and I allow ourselves to have one of our own, I will be using and abusing (in a loving way) these two sweet angels.

There are other things in my life that are good and happy, but most of them have to do with Chemistry and my daily expanded knowledge of the subject...which is boring to most people. Just wanted to let you all know that while things are a little boring and kind of sad around here sometimes, there are lots of good things going on too!

Visualizing Your Goal

2007-11-10T21:39:00.000-08:00

This Friday I went and visited with Skip Paznokas (yup, that's his name) he's the guy in charge of science majors who want to teach high school sciences. I had heard about this opportunity at another university called a Masters in Teaching and wanted to see if it was an option here at WSU.
Basically a Masters in Teaching is the golden ticket for me...the cake with all the icing on top. With a MIT (that's short for Masters in Teaching) I would be able to get a BS in Chemistry, without having to take all those crappy, waste of time (no offense to any Ed. Majors out there) education classes, and then spend one concentrated year earning my teaching credentials and wind up in the end with not only a BS in Chemistry but a Masters degree to boot. I'll be it it's not a masters in Chemistry but that doesn't matter, just the fact that it's a masters in anything is enough to make me more marketable and bump me up a pay grade. I will be doing a Chemistry Endorsement for my MIT which means I have to take one more Biochemistry class (the lab corresponding with the lecture I took) and then I'll be set. Skip also recommended doing a general science endorsement, so that I can teach other classes too. But he said that I can always add on endorsements as I go. This was good news because the general science endorsement would require I take more classes than I really have time for...classes like astrology, and geology and who has time for those?1?!
So this is good news and bad news. It means that I definitely know what I'm going to do with my life and have laid out the breadcrumbs to follow the right path but it also means that I'm definitely going to be in school for five...count em' people...five more semesters. Which sucks. I'm really ready to be done with school now. I'm tired of the constant studying and the endless string of busy days and no fun. But don't start panicking now people...I will not give up. I (well, Brian had a part in it too) have made this decision to get my degree and not give up until it's finished, so I'm not going to give up. I promise. It just feels sometimes like we're stuck in this no-man's-land between being kids and being adults. Because no matter how old I am, if I'm still in school somehow it doesn't really feel like I've grown up. And I want to grow up, I really do. I want to finally get out of this state of being and become that person I was destined to be. It just appears that it is going to take me a little bit longer than expected.
But that's okay, because when I'm all done with this it will be worth it. Stacey and I were talking about all this is other day and she said "just think about all the paper work you and Brian will be hanging on your walls...". And so I guess I can hang it all up on my walls, and looking at it I'll be able to remember and (hopefully) be happy about the journey that I took in getting there.

Don't worry, we're still alive

2007-10-03T11:01:00.000-07:00

In case you've been wondering, Kelly and I are still alive. Yes, we have been busy. No, we haven't been so busy we couldn't have written a post here and there. No, we haven't forgotten about you all. School is going well, except for all the homework we have to do. Kelly wins here because my homework consists of, in her opinion, drawing pictures and playing on the computer while Kelly's consists of MathCAD and P-Chem. Anyway, I thought I'd just take 5 minutes and write a quick post to let you all know we are ok. But if you have more time you want to spend thinking about how cool I am, check out this website: http://www.courtyardhousing.org/. This is the project I'm working on in my studio class and therefore accounts for about 50% of my day, everyday.

RE: Government Workers

2007-07-12T22:47:00.000-07:00

I got this respose back from the DOL office the other day. It's nice to know that somebody took the time to write me back and also to make sure the District Manager knows about it. Now I'm kindof scared to go in and get my license.

Dear Mr. Henry:

Thank you for your recent letter to Director Liz Luce. I have been
asked to respond to your concerns

Providing prompt, courteous and professional customer service is very
important to the Department of Licensing. It is also extremely important
for us to know when our customer service is not meeting our own
expectations. Please accept our apology because it appears very clearly
that you did not receive adequate customer service in this situation. If
there were some sort of system failure regardless of the time of day we
should have simply re-entered the information and completed the
transaction if we had all the requisite items. That would have been the
normal procedure for our offices.

The information in your email is being shared with the District Manager
Jeff Rew for the Pullman Driver Licensing Office. He will be working
with the supervisor and staff at the Pullman office on the customer
service issues you raised. This should raise awareness and encourage a
change in the quality of customer service at the office. I am also
asking that you contact Jeff directly at (509) 921-2313 or via email at
jrew@dol.wa.gov.

Again, thank you for your letting us know of your experience with the
Pullman office. Your comments are very important to us. We look forward
to providing you with quality customer service in the future and hope
that you will let us know of your future experiences with this or any of
our offices.

Sincerely,

Kathy Eberle
Administrator
Driver Examining

Cc: Liz Luce, Director
Myke Gable, Acting Assistant Director
Jeff Rew, District Manager

I'm in!! aka: I don't have to change my major!

2007-07-10T18:11:00.000-07:00

It isn't totally official yet, but . . . I got accepted into third year! I went onto the U of I registration page just to see if they've opened up third-year studio for registration, they had, I checked the box next to one of the sections, clicked "register" and voila! I'm registered. I haven't gotten an acceptance letter in the mail, except for my two false alarms (the College of Art and Architecture Dean's List acceptance letter, and the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences Dean's List acceptance letter). I'm not the only one that has figured this out yet because when I registered the only section with an instructor listed was full with 3 on the wait list, plus the other two sections had 3 and 4 registered respectively but their instructors are TBA.

Fourth of July

2007-07-07T21:10:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos I took of the Pullman fireworks celebration.

Government workers

2007-07-07T15:36:00.000-07:00

I went in to the DOL today to get a Washington drivers license. And I don't have a drivers license. I was a good customer and had all the documents I needed and they appreciated that, they told me so, but apparently not enough to fulfill their job descriptions. I walked into the office at 2:20, ten minutes before closing. They started my application, after complaining about the time a little bit and how they had plans for when they got off work of course. We were making great time, since I had all the right documents, they issued me the eye test (I passed) and then their computer crashed. Now the lady helping me starts pushing buttons like crazy, a few f3's maybe an f5, but to no avail. Finally with a ctrl + alt + delete she restarted the computer. After rebooting and finding that the application wasn't saved she handed me back my documents and said to come back on Tuesday, but don't expect to walk in at 5 and get it done because Tuesday is their busiest day. I explain that that's not really an option because I work and I don't get back to Pullman until 4:30 (and that's not in any condition to take a photo where people will be forced to identify me from). However, the women "helping" me insisted that she was planning on already being in the car on her way to the bank so I'd have to come back some other day. Anyway, I left (looking quite disgusted) and came home drivers license-less. When I got home I wrote a nice e-mail to the director of the DOL stating my complaint that their employees who are supposed to work in a customer-centered environment and give great customer service, are actually creating a self-centered environment worrying about not logging overtime hours and not actually serving the customers. But even with all of that I expect to go in next week and be treated the same, but at least I feel like I've complained enough.

Ñoquis caseros

2007-07-02T21:46:00.000-07:00

Kelly and I enjoyed ñoquis (pronounced NEO-keys) tonight for dinner. I learned how to make them in Argentina. They are mainly a type of pasta made from potatoes. I hadn't made them in a while so I was a little rusty and they turned out a little larger than they were supposed to and a bit rubbery. This was the first time that Kelly had ever tried them and she like them so I guess they didn't turn out that bad.

Did absence make the heart grow fonder?

2007-06-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

My deepest apologies to all of you who have been feeling the lack of posts lately badly (basically...Mom, I'm sorry). Since the regular semester got off I have been in summer classes and working in the Chemistry lab doing research and working at the movie theater. My summer class, calculus three, got out about two weeks ago and I did pretty good by getting a B+ in the course. Since then I've been working about four days a week at the movie theater and two full days a week at the lab and some nights working at the lab too to finish up research that doesn't get done during my full days at lab.

In the lab I've been helping a graduate student hoping to get her Phd with her research. I am looking at the effect of dioxane percentage on pKa (something to do with reactions and equilibrium). I do a bunch of different titrations on different percentage solutions. Actually, the computer does these titrations as we are working on such an accurate scale that we need the computer to automatically dispense very small volumes of base into a solution of acid, which is on such a small scale as to be impossible to do using humans. So, basically I sit around for six to eight hours a day changing solutions when necessary and making sure that the computer is doing it's job. In the last month I have therefore read five books and am halfway thorough my sixth. Quite the productive summer I'd say.

However all this work leaves little time for fun and adventure and therefore little need for entries. I have been trying more to have fun and when last Saturday with Jeff and Stacey to Wawawai Park for some floating and sun bathing and am going again this weekend for a barbecue and possibly on Monday with Stacey to go boating with Jeff's sister. So I've been trying to have fun and hey, I've been making money.

However, even I have to think twice as to how important money really is. I got an email today from the Chemistry department requesting a Chem 105 tutor, but advising us that these students are all ready very far behind and will require much help and study. I decided that with all this other crap going on, I really just need to have a few moments of time to myself each day otherwise I'll burn out, so I declined! Hey, it's an improvement for me, the girl who never turns down a job.

That's pretty much the most recent news that's happened lately. So hopefully this will help to let you know what I've been up to. Brian's been in school too and has just recently gotten a job working construction for the remainder of the summer. Well be keeping busy, but also having some fun with each other in the meantime!

When Marketing Goes Bad

2007-06-27T17:25:00.000-07:00

So there has been an odd bit of marketing going on in the McDonalds here in Pullman. To explain better, there is a sale going on now for two small vanilla ice cream cones for $1. Now this marketing is great to start off but then it goes very bad; first off the sale is only going on at the Bishop Blvd McDonalds not the one on Stadium (it's a CHAIN for goodness sakes who would have thought two stores in the same town wouldn't have the same sale), secondly when I went there today by myself I ordered a small vanilla ice cream cone and the total came to 97 cents to which I said "isn't there a two for $1 sale?" and the lady said "yes, would you like that instead?" and I said "no, I'd just like one for 50 cents" and she said "no, it's two for $1 or one for 97 cents".
CRAZY!!!!!
In case you were wondering I refused to give them my business and drove through the rest of the drive through feeling satisfied with my refusal of this ridiculous marketing travesty.

The weight off my shoulders

2007-05-21T13:56:00.000-07:00

For pretty much the past 2 years my college career has been leading up to this point. What is "this point," you might ask. To put it lightly, the point where a second-year architecture student is put to the test, the point where everything he or she has done will be carefully sifted through with a fine-toothed comb, the point of (almost) no return, the point where the fate of their college career rests in the hands of a few under-paid college professors that barely recognize their names (if they're lucky). I could come up with more, but the creative juices just aren't flowing today. This point is the end of the second year and the hopeful beginning of the third.

There are three points in the architecture program here at the University of Idaho where the students must undergo an application process to continue in the program. The first is after the first year. This is where they weed out the weaklings based only on their grades. The final is after the fourth year, when the student must apply to graduate school. But by far the most grueling, the most nail-biting application process is at the end of the second year. This is when the students must submit not only their grades but also a design portfolio consisting of their original work to be scrutinized by a few select professors. This is when they weed out the rest of the weaklings that only made it this far by their GPAs.

You can tell a lot about an applicant by their portfolio. Firms look at a portfolio more closely than they will a resume. Not only is it a type of resume but it is also a practical way to evaluate the basic principles that all design is based on. In essence, the portfolio says whether or not someone is a good designer or not. A bad portfolio is just that, bad. It will show. Nothing will say, "Hey! look at me! I'm a cool design." And the reviewer will say, "Wow! what a piece of junk." On the other hand, a good portfolio will take even the poorest design and make it seem like a work of pure brilliance rivaled only by Notre Dame du Haut by Le Corbusier or the National Assembly building in Dacca by Louis I. Kahn.

For the typical architecture student, the pressure to create a work of art in portfolio form slowly builds from his class at the University of Idaho (probably ARCH 151), and usually culminates at around 3:00 pm on the friday following finals week when either the student says, "I'm done..." or says, "I'm done messing around with this thing and I'm going to kill myself!" (For me, it was closer to the first).

So without any further rambling I give you the weight off my sholders (at least the cover for now, I can't upload the .pdf so I'll have to figure out some other way to show it off).

The Downfalls of Tenure

2007-03-22T14:26:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of older men as teachers this semester, an overwhelming amount it seems. They are generally nice old guys but sometimes they can be real grumps...more importantly though they are easily distracted. It can happen mid-sentence too. Now I'm all for older people working and for just old people in general...but there are times when it just seems like the university is giving out tenure like it's candy. Shouldn't there be some sort of test as to the teaching abilities of these people...like how older people have to take tests a lot to make sure they can still keep their drivers license. Shouldn't we value the education of our future the same as we value their safety on the road?
My OChem lab teacher happens to be a kind (but often grumpy and cruel) older man, who gets side tracked by the drop of a hat...or the inhaling of oxygen. Anyway, the man should not be in charge of twenty-odd college age students trying to run extremely difficult experiments with little to no help or guidance...we're drowning here people. He tends to forget who he's helping or tells you he'll get to you in a second but of course gets side tracked by the next student who approaches him. You really have to hound him to get anything from him, and often times I worry that he confuses my problems/experiment with someone elses. Today he was in fine form.
It was 8 o'clock in the morning and I was already having a crappy day. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. So with about an hour to go in the class period (a whopping three hours) I stood in line and asked him if he could help me and three other people do an IR of our crystals (an IR is an Infra-Red spectrum of our crystal that will help us to hopefully identify one of the three unknowns that they have given us in our compound). He told me he had to help this other student but he'd be right over.
10:30 comes along and I'm still waiting...albeit not very patiently. Then I start seeing him talking to other students (not the one I had to wait for) and then he's wandering in and out of his office. So I go up to him and politely ask if he'd like us to just wait until Tuesday since its 10:30, to which he responds "an IR only takes 37 seconds to run and five minutes to prepare", which I am left to assume means he'll get to me in a minute.
10:45 comes crawling along (and by this time I'm really anxious to get home and take that necessary shower that I skipped this morning before I have to head off to my next class). A TA approaches him and at 10:50 he finally comes over and tells me we'll do the IR. Then we spend 5 minutes in his office looking for something he's inevitably misplaced. Then get to the room with the IR and have to watch him flounder around for another few minutes and yell at someone else for misplacing a different peice of apparatus he needs...only to concede that we can't do it today because he can't find all the things he needs. Then the three of us get to listen to him explain how the IR works (which we were already lectured on for two hours before) and it's painful. He looses his place in the conversation three or four times, and this guy standing next to me is getting just a little bit too close (there was touching) and so I'm just about ready to throw in the towel and my professor says "well, I guess we'll just have to do this next week. Sorry".
"Sorry"? He's got to be kidding me. He just wasted an hour of my time, when I already knew we should do it next week. Oh well...old men cannot be helped.
Anyway, the day pretty much got worse from there. A tenant called asking if she could get a parking pass because she's had several tickets and thinks they're going to boot her car. This wasn't a good time for me because I needed to take a shower and get ready for the day. After asking me to just drop the pass off at her apartment, which I told her we're not allowed to do (trying to keep the shock at her audacity out of my voice) finally told her if she could get here in 20 minutes like she said I'd give her a pass. So I take a record winning short shower and throw some clothes on to be presentable. She never shows! I waited for her and didn't do what I wanted to do with my brief, precious, moments of time between class, work and all that other crap so that she wouldn't get yet another ticket. Then an hour and a half later I had to leave to go to class. If she came over after that I feel bad for her but really I was there when she said she'd be there. Besides...who doesn't try to get a pass after the first ticket?
My gosh...I feel a very strong need to quote Michel from Gilmore Girls "people are particularly stupid today, I cannot talk to any more of them".

Bragging rights

2007-03-15T16:41:00.000-07:00

I've never liked shopping that much. While my mom would try to teach me to shop around and finally make the purchase when I knew I'd found the best deal, I just wanted to buy it and not worry about whether or not it was a good deal.
Despite my obvious shortcomings when it comes to shopping I sure can find a good deal. For example...Kelly and I were on our way to the grocery store when we passed Kelly's favorite store, Wild Ivy. It's a little store where I once bought her some place mats and napkins. It's filled with lots of little things to decorate with etc. (Kelly can give a much better description). Anyway we decided to go in just to look around. Once inside Kelly was immediately distracted by the many things to choose from but I kept a level head. If I have learned anything about this shop it was that while things looked great, they also carried a deadly poison...a price tag that rarely carried an appropriate number. So while Kelly was running around looking, touching, hefting, admiring and acting like a six-year-old in a candy store, I maintained my composure. That's when I saw it.
I couldn't believe it. It was like one of those rumors you hear about, never really believe but deep down inside wished was true. It was a discount rack. The sign said 40% off so I was wary. If this was true it could open countless possibilities. I didn't want to startle it so I approached slowly. Reaching out to it like it was a scared puppy i touched it. It felt real enough so I picked up an object. To my surprise it didn't disintegrate in my hands. I slowly beckoned for Kelly to come. As she approached I took from the shelf a small ceramic container. We have been looking for something like this for a while but never found anything that satisfied our needs. Kelly was stunned...it was perfect. If only they had two more of varying sizes...but wait! Just behind the one we picked up we saw a much larger one. Inside it was a smaller one, and inside it was a smaller one still. A set of three containers that was just perfect for what we needed it for. As I turned the largest one over to peek at the price tag I was worried that our dreams would be crushed. As I looked at the small white sticker I quickly did the math in my head. At 40% off this was actually affordable. I quickly glanced at Kelly and she looked back and as if we were telepathically linked we began to gather up the three containers. As we slowly backed away from the bargain shelf I wanted to say, "Don't worry we'll meet again someday." It then took another 20 minutes to get Kelly to the register only 10 feet away but we finally made it out with our purchase in hand. I know I'm not the best shopper but I sure know a deal when I see it. And as for the bargain rack...we will meet again, someday.

Stranded...almost

2007-03-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting day today. Brian went to the Rocks today to climb with Jeff and Dane. And so I decided to see if I could get my hair fixed. There's a sale going on at a furniture store though so I went early over to Moscow. And then I realized that no amount of sale could make those couches decent prices, and therefore I didn't spend as much time there as expected. I still had about an hour to go so I decided to go to the pet store around the corner. I went in but the kittens were sad and the puppies were sleepy. When I got back in Brian's c ar (he took mine) I turned the key and it wouldn't start. The battery was fine because the radio went on but it just wouldn't start. We've had the problem once before and it was just a loose wire so I tried calling Brian but I couldn't reach him. So I walked to the hair salon got it cut. It's better but I'm still not one hundred percent happy since I feel like it looks kind of unfinished. But what can you say. Then I did some window shoping and tried calling Brian again. Nothing. So I decided to walk back to the car. When I got there I put the keys in the ignition and oh yeah...it started.
My mom would be happy though because I got some walking in for the day. Now it's off to the more glamourous part of my day...that's right...cleaning the house!

Looking back...

2007-03-11T21:26:00.000-07:00

Ever had one of those days? Well on Friday I had one of those days. The kind of day that you wish you could redo or have not exist...like on Voyager where there'd be this crazy alien thing that means that a large chunk of time (aka an episode) techinically never happened...wish I could have had a non-episode day on Friday.

Okay, to give you some background. There is this INCREDIBLY annoying girl in a couple of my classes. Her name is Heather. She likes to talk A LOT in class. She asks tons of questions...which I technically don't mind. The part that I mind is when she answers her own question, which brings to my mind the question of why ask the question if you know the answer? Not only does she do that but she also talks over the professor to finish the sentence the professor is saying which just makes it really hard to follow the class. I also went in to get help once and she was there and when I asked a question she talked over the professor and answered it herself. One of my teachers does a really good job at shutting her down but this other teacher isn't as confident and is a little to nice and doesn't want to embarrass or discourage students just lets Heather rule the class.
All the people I sit next too are so annoyed and bothered by her. This class is hard enough to follow without someone disrupting it every five minutes. She's hindering people's education...she's hindering mine.
So I finally snapped on Friday. I wanted to say something to Heather but got nervous so I went and talked to my professor. But she didn't leave the classroom and Heather was still sitting there so I couldn't really express myself. And of course I got a little emotional. I just decided I should go. So as I got up to go so did Heather. We left and she went one way up the stairs and I started to go down. I told myself don't do it, but before I could stop myself I said "Could you not talk so much in class". She turns around and says "I'm just asking questions". I told her that I had no problem when she asked questions I just didn't appreciate her talking over the teacher and answering her own questions. She started arguing with me and I could tell that this wasn't the first time someone had been annoyed with her. She kept arguing with me and I of course was too emotional to really say what I wanted to say and she ended up walking off saying that she didn't need to argue with me.
I was so upset afterward. I ended up going back and talking to my professor. When I had talked earlier she had thought I was upset with people having side conversations. So the overall deal is that I had a talk with my professor and told her it was Heather. She understood but didn't know what to do. She even mentioned that Heather had answered a question of another student during office hours just like she did to me. She also mentioned that the Physics 201 professor had warned her that she would be hearing a lot from Heather in Physics 202. She explained that Heather is pre-med and likes to hear things confirmed again and again. She then said she'd try and encourage Heather to ask some of her questions outside of class, because she doesn't always get through the material because of her.
Even though this talk with my professor went well, I still felt really awful. I felt bad for making Heather probably feel bad, but at the same time I feel like she's had it coming and if someone doesn't explain to her things she's going to be rudely awakened someday. I felt stupid for crying infront of her and therefore not making much sense.
I'm sure I shouldn't have been so mean and I'll try and apologise to her after Break. I just hope that maybe I got her thinking, because I understand her point of view she just refuses to understand everyone else's point.
I feel bad though, and stupid. I hope that she is able to understand and that maybe I'll feel better and not like such a jerk. Who knows. I guess I just wish that this could have been my non-episode.

Meanwhile...

2007-03-11T21:11:00.000-07:00

While Kelly was out getting her hair cut I took the opportunity to go rock climbing at the U of I student recreation center. Dane and I had a blast, except for the part where Dane tore a callus off of his finger, ouch! I brought the video camera and we got some good footage despite Dane's attempts to record the ground and not the actual climb. Here's one I had to redo for that same reason, at least this time he managed to record it.

This is what happens when Dena has a mid-life crisis

2007-03-10T18:27:00.000-08:00

So today I did something that every girl hates to do (especially Cooper girls)...I had to find myself a new hair stylist.
I had heard from someone in my physics class that there was a good salon in Moscow. So today when Brian was rock-climbing with his friend Dane, I took the plung.

I did the unthinkable, I chose this new person to try something different with my hair. I wanted to add some side bangs to my do, and this new girl Toni did a good job on this. The only problem came when she was doing the rest of my layers. She went a little heavy on the layers on one side near my ear and on the other side near my chin. So basically there are two parts of my hair that need some help. I didn't notice this until I got home though of course because the mirror there was too high and I couldn't really see. So I think I'll go in later on this week (thank goodness for Spring Break) and ask her to do a little touch up! Hopefully she'll agree with it.

In other news Brian and I are so happy to be on Spring Break. We're planning on resting a lot and doing homework and trying to get ahead on some of our homework too! It's already looking like an amazing vacation since we got to sleep in to 10.30 this morning, something we haven't done in months and months and months. We also did some fun browsing at furniture stores today. We're looking at maybe getting a couch this summer for the new apartment.

Anyway, we're looking forward to this much needed break. I hope that everyone is enjoying themselves and having fun. And a note to my mom and dad, hope you are having fun with Will and Traci and Nic. Love to you all!

The Beginnings...two months too late

2007-02-26T21:53:00.000-08:00

So in the hustle and bustle of life as newlyweds (not to mention crazed college students) Brian and I have finally sat down and decided to create a blog for all of you at home to keep you up to date on our day-to-day lives. Sometimes the posts will be few and far between (aka: midterms and finals weeks) and sometimes they will be boring (aka: most of the time since we have become the kind of people who go to bed at 10 o'clock [Brian: Crap Kelly it's almost bedtime now!]) but at least they will be something.
So far we're two months into a new semester and a new marriage (it's Kelly's fifth [Brian: Marriage!? or semester?]). I'll leave that to your own imagination. Anyway, we're both crazy busy with school and work and finding time to spend with each other, but we're happy. We're trying to find space for all of our stuff and figuring out that I really don't know how to "properly" squeeze a tube of toothpaste, but hey that's marriage right? [Brian: You'd think after four of them by now she'd have it figured out, right?]
We'll try as often as we can to post pictures from our exciting lives and to do at least a weekly post (it should be more) even if it is to complain about our jobs (especially the lazy students we tutor) or our schooling (be prepared for some highly entertaining and educational information about Chemistry!!! whohoo!).
But for now we will leave it at this. Be prepared for the worst, but this could be a fun blog.
Oh, and for anyone who doesn't get the title of our blog it's from Hank the Cowdog...read it! [Brian: Which one, there are like a billion of those books you know!] OK, Hank the Cowdog and the Case of the Swirlling Killer Tornado--the best one there is.

[Brian: And for those of you who are wondering; Yes, Kelly did post this even though it says I did. We'll get that worked out later. Right now we're late for bed...goodnight!]