Friday, December 26, 2008

Load O' Photos (That rhymes, right?)

This is a nice post of family photos from Christmastime.
Aiden, my nephew, made his way up with his parents (Cory and Kelly) on Christmas day. Check out his Nike Shocks.
Ben and Aiden

This picture is supposed to focus on Cory and Kelly (Cory perfected the Chandler face from Friends).. but if you zoom in, Aiden is grabbing Dad's nose and they look really funny. Almost as funny as Dad looks when he dances to Aiden's Jumparoo jungle ditty.


I don't really know what's going on in this photo. Kristi? and Chris... who doesn't appear to be that affected by her at the moment. Maybe this is a normal occurrence?


All of us kids... after this photo, we were all instructed to "look normal." Don't know why. Kevin, Kristi, Dan, Julie, and Chris. (Kevin recently texted me saying "ya i know it sucks." To which I responded - "Did you mean to send that to me?" Kevin: "my bad homie.") I'm so glad I have friends in my life to educate me so that I'm not such a n00b.

My last picture for the Christmas spirit, and then the bitter swimming-spirit will show up soon - Remember my desire for a hippopotamus? I have learned that hippos are very angry people. While teacher says they are vegetarians, they have gored people to death and are very hostile and aggressive. But doesn't this hippo just make you want to scoop him up and adopt him? Some people think I should set lower goals in life than to own a hippo, but if they're all this cuddly - I just don't know any more.

Monday, December 15, 2008

It's Christmastime in Chicago

Downtown Chicago over the weekend.
At the bean - SURPRISE!
The ice skating rink is in the reflection of the bean - it was at Millennium Park, and you can skate for free. Skate rental costs money, but I have a lovely roommate who owns ice skates so we just carried them in on the train and skated around.
In case there is any confusion, here is a lovely sign instructing us at the ice rink.
Are you ready for the grand finale? I got to meet SANTA!! Who knows how to ice skate, although... not very well. This put us both in such a festive mood that Josh sang Christmas carol after Christmas carol. I had to say, "Josh. There is only so much that one can listen to Christmas carols. Especially the versions by Jessica Simpson and Taylor Swift. Come on, sir."
To which he responded "ONLY FIVE LINES OF CHRISTMAS SONGS! NOT FIVE WHOLE SONGS!"
To which I really have no response to, because it's 'true'.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Why I like my house.

First, I went to MSU yesterday for a grad school open house - thing. I really enjoyed it, and there's a number of interesting projects going on. The fact that I was invited out there early looks promising, but I have yet to visit other schools, so I don't have anything to compare it to. I would appreciate prayers in the next few months when I actually have to start making decisions as to what I want to do with the next few years of my life.

the white skates leave treads on the thin ice
in eights, infinities, glasses, two-thirds of an equally-distributed snowman-
the plain circular rink leaves (surprisingly) more options than one would think
see there, the scuffled shavings head straight to the wall, the easiest instinctual brake for the uncoordinated
I would think that Red Gloves follows Furry Ears follows Christmas Scarf again and
around and around. but Red Gloves follows who Red Gloves wants
without incident.
no formula for scores here, this round has rules but no One Way to twirl.
and I -
I stand in the middle.

Next, I have started a fad in my house... I love pajamas and long johns (as stated earlier, I believe.) And two of my housemates bought onesies from Target, and two of my great friends gave me a pair from Target for Christmas. So, here is Tessa, Cara, and I in our onesies... waiting on the steps to come down, like real kids.

Cara and Tessa playing with Einstein, another housemate's dog. I guess they're actually done playing here... He's tired.
This is a video - not terribly exciting, my photography skills need a bit of work - of what we did for the last 30 minutes in our basement. Post-picture time.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Rolle's Theorem and hippopotamuseses

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." - Hebrews 10:23

I observed three other teachers (because I'm done acting as a teacher, I am finding things to do to fill my time during the school day.) The two AP classes that I sat in (calculus and comparative literature) were a lot of fun listening to the different opinions and making jokes with the older students. I was able to help a few people in the calc class, and they enjoyed my "42-7?" comment when they groaned about me being from Ohio. And more good things came from it - the teacher introduced me as a new student and they didn't believe him! That meant (I'm taking it to mean) I look older than them!

Also in good news, I heard my favorite Christmas song in the middle of practice (embedded here for your enjoyment) today.