Finally

It has taken the internet over a decade to finally share with the world my team's record from the 1996 Gavel Club Invitational for high jump (or at least it has taken Google this long to find it). Perhaps the news hasn't spread so fast since high jump relays are that common and our team only tied the record and didn't break it.

Plus it has found out about my mom bowling a 588 series, which qualified her for the end of season tournament back in 1984...I'm not sure but I'm assuming this would be the year my mom went to state in bowling. Good job mom.

I suppose now that I've shared this with you it is obvious that when I get really bored I type names of friends and family (and myself) into Google to see what comes up...I suppose this is common.

"Fixing Stuff"

The current experiment I have been setting up to run has been going pretty smoothly...a nice change of pace. I then go to setup our optical components and sure enough my computer won't recognize the camera it has been using for the past 4 years...alright there must be an easy fix to this. After making several attempts to correct the problem within the software I finally decide that the only thing that makes sense is to uninstall the software and then reinstall...thus reverting back to the old settings of when the camera worked properly. However DaVis software will only install properly if the cd used and the dongle (a little thing you plug into the computer that confirms the users software license) match. So after uninstalling it turns out I have no idea where the correct cd is(I have a pile of other cds for this license but need this particular one). So after spending the past ~8 hours attempting to "fix" this problem I now don't even have access to the software to run my equipment...I knew it was only a matter of time before I put in some solid negative-work. So in my final task for the day I sent a dejected email to the tech people stating the steps that I took to "fix" my software problem and asking how bad I'd screwed things up.
On the up side though...each failure/screw up is the best opportunity for learning, thus I have just learned something...wait...no, I'm pretty sure if I get into a similar situation I'll try and fix it myself again...oh well, I'm going home.

100 Years of Elbing Farms

As I had stated in a previous post, this past April 20th (same as my birthday) our family farm became 100 years old. Then just today my mom sent me the centennial farm certificate. So we are now officially a centennial farm.

Two updates...one day

For those of you that don't appreciate the humor of "The Office," I'll share with you true nerdy humor. Well I'm not sure why we laugh at it since this is just our life and it really is the way things go for a PhD student. Anyway, here is a comic from PhD (Piled Higher and Deeper) comic.

Office Quote

I'm referring to the TV show "The Office", which I highly recommend everyone watch (Rey I understand why you can't stand it, but I think you are the only person I know in HR). Last night I had it on (like most nights) and was watching season 1 when I heard this amazing conversation between Dwight and Mr. Brown (not a regular but a guy that was giving a presentation for diversity day).

Dwight: Um, excuse me, but that's not all it takes to be a hero.
Mr. Brown: Oh great, well what is a hero to you.
Dwight: A hero kills people, people that wish him harm.
Mr. Brown: Ok.
Dwight: A hero is part human and part supernatural. A hero is born out of a childhood trauma or out of a disaster and must be avenged.
Mr. Brown: Um, ok you're thinking of a superhero.
Dwight: We all have a hero in our heart.

Our First Date

Today Ciara send me some pictures (thanks Ciara) of Demoree and I on our "first date". Now there are probably four "first dates" that could be considered (the accidental one where we went to the cider mill together, this one that was actually a date, Dem's birthday when I planned on asking her out, and our first date as a couple...Quiznos and Future Stars), but this is the only one that I wasn't doing the asking. It was actually Ciara who asked me to be Demoree's date to a wedding. It was only 6 and half months after this date that I actually asked her out. However I must have had something in mind since I did save the seating assignment card for Demoree Fritz and Brian Elding (yeah it actually has Elding on it).

I don't really now what's going on in this picture, but I'm assuming I just said somethin really funny.
I'm going to assume Demoree is making that face not because of me.
Now that's a nice picture...my eyes are even open a normal amount.

Deep Thought by Jack

I think all Christians would agree with me if I said that though Christianity seems at the first to be all about morality, all about duties and rules and guilt and virtue, yet it leads you on, out of all that, into something beyond. One has a glimpse of a country where they do not talk of those things, except perhaps as a joke. Every one there is filled full with what we should call goodness as a mirror is filled with light. But they do not call it goodness. They do not call it anything. They are not thinking of it. They are too busy looking at the source from which it comes. But this is near the stage where the road passes over the rim of our world. No one’s eyes can see very far beyond that: lots of people’s eyes can see further than mine.

- Clive Staples Lewis from Mere Christianity

Cider and Salsa

Last week I made a visit to Kalamazoo to be with my mom during her back surgery (glad to say everything went well and she is recovering). This also gave me an opportunity to visit family and friends out there, which is nice because it has been too long since I spent more than 24 hours in Kazoo. Since everything went smoothly I can say that it was a nice trip and will share two stories from it that I find humorous (at least now I do).

Story 1: Drinking Cider
On Tuesday I was planning on leaving for Kazoo after work, but turns out I failed to get the plans correct and needed to leave more like at 3pm than 6pm. So I ran home and got things packed and left in a hurry. I was thirsty and had cider so I thought it made a lot of sense to put some in a thermos for the road. The only problem is that the only thermos I had there was one that every attempt I've made to use it has ended with the contents spilled on me. However I told myself I have a two degrees in mechanical engineering and closing in on a third and should be able to properly operate a thermos.
With that I hit the highway and shortly after decided to take a drink. I carefully looked over the situation and was pretty sure I knew the area that the fluid came out of and put my mouth around the whole thing to ensure no spillage. As I tipped it up I quickly realized that in addition to the part that opens up it also opens a small slit all the way around the rim, which my mouth was in no way around. This resulting in a large amount of cider being poured out on my shorts and shirt...son of a...
I then calmed down and was happy to have some clean shirts sitting next to me (thanks to Sherry grabbing them for me at the career fair) and changed my shirt...shorts had to wait until later. After about a half hour I needed another drink and decided that know I really understand what's going on an will be able to operate it. Sure enough I finally was able to successfully drink out of it without spilling...YES! Then I got about half way done with the cider and sure enough I tipped it too far up and the cider got away from me and right onto the new, clean shirt...SON OF A...seriously?!
No joke I was yelling at that inanimate object and threatening to throw it out the window (if I didn't hate littering so much I'm pretty sure I would have followed through with my threat). The whole time I was chewing it out the stupid thing just sat there mocking me...some day I will get revenge on that thermos.

Story 2: Bachelor Meals
While waiting for my mom to get out of surgery my grandpa, dad, and I went to the cafeteria for a drink and a bite to eat. We were chatting away and my grandpa began to share how now that he is living alone his meals are a lot less diverse. Basically he bought a gallon of sauerkraut and ate the whole thing straight for each meal. Then he went and bought a gallon of corn beef hash and attempted the same thing (3/4th of the way through it he couldn't take it anymore and quit). I then began to give him a hard time about that, but my dad said he can't give him any grief since mom was going to be laid up for 6-8 weeks meaning he'll be eating mostly just beans for that time. At this point I realized I had no right to give him a hard time either because if it wasn't for Demoree I would be on an exclusively chips and salsa diet...no wonder God looked at man and said it wasn't good for him to be alone.