All The Miscellaneous Things

 

A so-called "American Football". Photo by Dave Adamson (link)

College Football Update

J and I go to games at Michigan Stadium to see the Wolverines play football. We've had season tickets since 1995, although we haven't been at all of the home games. 

It's not a stadium known for its high noise levels. From my experience, the loudest crowd reactions are:

1. The end of the James Earl Jones movie that is shown right before the team runs onto the field
2. When the announcer introduces the Veteran of the Game, usually a Word War II veteran, during a TV timeout
3. When the dog catches the frisbee

The crowd also cheers loudly sometimes when the team makes a good play. 

Really? More boats? 

Following my inexplicable obsession with cool watercraft: 

• This houseboat/camper boat is actually something I would consider owning if I lived near water.  Although if I lived near water, why would I need a camper for the water. I could just go home. I need to think this through more...
• This "yacht" jet ski, whose design is intended to reflect that of larger boats made by the same manufacturer, is also something I would definitely own.  

Random Stuff

Books

Looking for something new or different to read? The "Recommend Me a Book" site shows you the first few pages of a book so you can check it out and see if it's interesting. If you like it, you can find out what book it's from. If you don't like it, you can click "Next" and see the first pages from another book. 

Arch Design

This is a fun and easy-to-follow video that shows how arches are designed, and how to use a chain to easily discover whether an arch you've designed will stand on its own. 

Fall Update: K Edition

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Between orchestra and tennis, K has had a very crammed fall season. Here are some pictures from that time.

K hits a backhand shot at a match in Monroe.

K serves in a match in Bedford.

Before a recent orchestra concert starts, K seems to be
enjoying himself. I didn't have a very good view
of him during most of the concert, unfortunately. 

K and his doubles partner consult with the JV tennis
coach during a tournament at Pioneer. The tournament
was September 23 and the temperature topped 90 degrees. 

After the really hot tournament, the JV players who were part of the
match that day posed for a team picture.

K is on his way to the homecoming dance...

Tennis Match

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Here are some pictures from a recent JV tennis match. K and his partner fought the other team down to the wire, but lost the tiebreaker after each team won a set.

K's Excellent Middle School Adventure

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K outside of his school with his Golden Bear Award. Middle school's over!

Three Years Down, Four to Go
It seems like only two years ago that M was wrapping up his tenure at Slauson Middle School, and now K has finished his eighth grade year in style, going through his school's graduation/promotion ceremony yesterday morning, and attending a dance party with his friends in the evening.


K and two friends played a few pieces as a string trio before the graduation ceremony began.

In the last three years, K played soccer, volleyball, and tennis, joined the Mathcounts team, participated in Math Olympiad, served on the Student Coucil, and got all A's for every quarter. Like his brother, he was one of the "morning announcements" crew, and was well-known for his ability to pronounce everyone's name correctly.

At the ceremony, K was one of four recipients of the Golden Bear award. The award reads: "Exemplifying the very best of the human spirit: kindness, integrity, perseverance, selflessness, and for exhibiting high academic standards."

This summer, K will go to Interlochen with the Pioneer Orchestra, take a few piano lessons, volunteer for Rec & Ed's "Safety Town", and play as much tennis as he can squeeze in.

We're really proud of his work in middle school and look forward to more of the same at Pioneer High School.

Congratulations, K!


K gives Language Arts teacher Mrs. Murphy a hug at the graduation ceremony.
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Ultimate Frisbee - Michigan style

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M, indicated by the yellow arrow, plays Ultimate Frisbee to a packed house at Pioneer's Hollway Field.

Ultimate Cold
Today, M played with the Pioneer High School Ultimate Frisbee team against Northville High School. They played at Pioneer's football stadium. It was 38 degrees, with 20 MPH winds, and most of the time it either hailed or snowed. At least his team won, so it wasn't a total loss. My fingers are still thawing out, I'm not sure how M's hands are doing.


An action shot at the Ultimate Frisbee game.

Speaking of wins, Michigan State's basketball team beat Louisville to advance to the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament. Go State!


In warmer news, here's M taking his mom's van through the car wash. His mom appreciated it.

Important Statistics
According to the software I use to publish this blog (Blogger), this is my 308th blog post. That calls for some sort of celebration I think, like a cupcake or a free day off work.

Music and Sports!

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M and his sax trio play at Zingerman's Roadhouse at the Pioneer Band Gala. His was one of several ensembles chosen to entertain the crowd at this fun event - and who doesn't want to eat food from Zingerman's? A beautiful night well done by the dedicated Band Parents.


K shows his form while serving at the first Slauson Middle School volleyball game. K plays on one of three teams made up of 7th and 8th graders.

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Back To School

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I know that guy.

Update: K and M Edition
It's September, so that means it's back to school for the boys.

K is in seventh grade, taking eighth-grade algebra, playing violin in the orchestra, taking piano lessons, and going to try out for the soccer team. He's continuing his tennis lessons and will play some matches this fall. I guess you could say he has a few things on his plate. When I think about it all, I have to go take a nap.

M is starting ninth grade with a bang - on his second day of school, he trekked to a park near Pioneer with a lot of other students (most of whom he didn't know) for the first Ultimate Frisbee team practice. They had their first game this morning, and Mark scored a, um, well, actually, I don't know what it is called when you score in Ultimate Frisbee? Touchdown? Ultimatum? I'll have to go look that up.

After enduring what sounded like a very tough week at band camp at Interlochen last month, M is playing sax in the Varsity band. He's still taking piano lessons, and has to rest his eyes often from marathon girl-watching. Don't tell him I said that.


Not me, but I have the same racket! (It's Andy Murray)

Update on Me
As you can see from the picture at the top of this post, I am presenting a class at an upcoming conference in Ann Arbor. The conference is sponsored by my company, and I am on the committee to organize it, invite speakers, make sure the conference site is set up correctly, and so on. It's been a lot of work, but fun to go through the process.

I finished the tennis class I was taking, and am on a waiting list for taking another in the fall (I waited too long to sign up - some of the classes are really popular). I got a lot better during the class, and also bought a new tennis racket. The racket I bought is one that some pros use, and it was a bitter disappointment when I discovered that merely using it did not make me play like a pro.

A Graduation, and End of the Year Honors

M outside the school, on graduation day

Graduation Day
He finally did it - M completed eighth grade on Friday! There was a ceremony in the gym with all the students, and it was a packed house with parents, grandparents, and quite a few siblings who had taken the morning off school to see their brother or sister.

We were proud to watch M receive honors for being one of the top science students in the grade. He also was recognized as one of the 31 students who received all A's for every quarter from sixth through eighth grade. Last but not least, he was nominated for the "Golden Bear" award - two boys and two girls are named "Golden Bears" for being all-around great students, citizens, helpers, and just plain good people. They are nominated by teachers, and each teacher gets to vote for the winners. As they say at the Oscars, it's an honor just to be nominated, and the fact that M's teachers felt highly enough of him to nominate and vote for him makes his parents extremely proud.

During his three years at Slauson, M played soccer, volleyball, and tennis. He was a member of the Science Olympiad team for two years, the second of which saw him get a medal at the State competition. He was one of five students who made the morning announcements each day during the past year. He is going to do some volunteer work this summer at Safety Town, a class for preschoolers who will be in Kindergarten next year. He will also be going to band camp in August.

He has made a fine impression on his teachers and classmates in middle school, and we know he'll do the same next year at Pioneer High.

Great job, M!



M plays a sax solo with the Slauson Middle School Jazz Band before the graduation ceremony.

Math Olympiad Wrap-Up
On Saturday, another (long) year of Math Olympiad ended with a ceremony and lunch celebrating the hard work that all the students exhibited in the name of math education. This ended K's second year in the Math Olympiad program, and his second year of receiving a medal for being the top student in his class. His "top" status was determined by test scores, attendance, participation in class, homework, and other factors.

K has a special talent for math that he is going to continue to grow in the years to come. He was taking seventh-grade math this year as a sixth-grader, and next year will take eighth-grade math. In eighth grade, he will likely go to Pioneer High for first-hour math, then go back to middle school to take his other classes.

Congratulations to K on his high level of achievement in Math Olympiad!


K (third from left in the front row) has two medals - the one with the yellow lanyard is for being the top student in the class


K outside Tappan Middle School, where the Math Olympiad classes were held every Saturday morning during the school year.

Volleyball Out, Tennis In, Spring Is Here, Let's Begin!

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M serves up a winner at the last volleyball match of the season. (Thanks for the great picture, Laurie!)

Volleyball Endeth, Tennis Starteth
Both boys played volleyball for their respective grades this year. The sixth-graders played two all-city tournaments (six schools total), and the eighth-graders played each other school twice. The kids got plenty of exercise and lots of bruises on their knees because the boys are too cool to wear knee pads like the girls do.

Spring tennis is starting for K - he is playing one day a week with fellow students after school, and will do Rec & Ed tennis again. The latter means one practice a week and a match roughly every other week. He and I went to Pioneer High to play some tennis a few weeks back when he was off school for spring break and I was on vacation. We'll do lots more of it this summer.

Links
I wonder if the photographer put the snail in those places, or if he spent years following it around?

If I worked at home more, I'd get one of these desks.

For no particular reason, a stack of toads for your consideration. The caption for this picture, which had no photo credit, said that the photographer stacked them for fun to see what would happen, and they let him.

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Slush, Slush Everywhere

Billy Joel tickles the ivories at The Palace of Auburn Hills Saturday night.

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The entire street, neighborhood, city, and county are under three inches of slush today. It will get interesting when it all freezes in a few days. The roads are going to be icy, bumpy, and impassable, and I'm already regretting the decision to sell my hovercraft on eBay.

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Headline: Billy Joel Still Able to Play Piano, Sing at Same Time

The four of us went to Brighton and grabbed Laurie, then zipped over to the Palace to see Billy Joel last weekend. J and I have seen him before. I'm not sure how many times - five or six or eleven or something. He can still pack the Palace and put on a good show. J got these great pictures.


Instead of a giant screen behind the stage, there were long strips of screens that showed various scenes from the stage, and/or pictures of cityscapes or bright colors to go along with the songs.


M and K weren't the youngest people at the show, but there were not many people their age. Here they are standing near the entrance to our section, with Piston Chauncy Billups on the billboard overhead.

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Sleddin'

A few weeks ago, M and K (and three of their friends) piled into the van and we headed to Vets Park for some sledding. I'm not crazy enough to go down the hill with all of its ramps and bumps. I bruise like a grape, as Daffy Duck would say.


M, right, and a couple of neighbor friends show off their sledding gear.

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Birthday Extravaganza
We trekked in what was very pleasant weather to Jackson to visit mom and dad and celebrate all of our family's January and February birthdays. Mary, Jeff, and Daniel were there, and we were able to Skype with John, who was in Australia or New Zealand or the South Pole or somewhere like that.

Happy Birthday, Everyone!


Daniel, K, and M laugh it up with John on Skype.

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This is fantastic! I was hoping we'd get more snow!

I think we're going to need a bigger plow. The ones in our neighborhood have trouble getting closer than six feet to the curb.


M (left) and his friend, M, demonstrate their horn skills. Their identical shirts were not planned.

M and I went to Livonia last weekend to middle school Solo & Ensemble. He performed two songs for his piano solo, and he and his friend (also named M) played a sax/trumpet duet. Both performances earned a One rating, and now he has two more blue medals to add to the one he got last year.


K plays violin in a recent sixth-grade orchestra concert. They have come a long way in the last few months, and sounded very good.

Indoor Tennis Fun

J, K, and I went to see a UM men's tennis match at the indoor tennis facility that hosts K's tennis practices. They were playing North Carolina State. Since years of hating Ohio State has caused most Michigan fans to despise the color red, this seemed an appropriate contest for us to attend. We have seen some of the other non-revenue generating sports, such as swimming, and this match was not only free to watch, but we all got complimentary t-shirts and K won a hat in a raffle. No wonder they don't generate any revenue. For heaven's sake, they only had one can of balls for each court, and the players had to chase the balls around during the match.

They played the doubles matches first, and a UM player crushed an overhead slam that bounced so high it flew into the stands where we were sitting. I reached out and caught it, as I have the reflexes of a cat. I showed the ball to K and J and we laughed a little about it. I commented that for all the time I've sat in the stands during K's practices I've never had a ball go into the stands.

We looked back down at the court to watch the continuation of the game, and realized that while we were joking about the ball, the two NC State players had been standing on the court, staring up at us with an annoyed look, waiting for me to throw it back to them. Oops! Sorry for the delay of game, guys!


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Tennis Plus Turkey Day Plus Links

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The weekend is nigh and, while there is not a lot of news, having a nigh weekend is celebration material enough, I think.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at our house last week. Everyone was there that we could reasonably have expected, even John, who only had a 48-hour hiatus from his job on tour with Pearl Jam. Some Christmas card pictures were taken that day – I won’t publish any of them and spoil the surprise, so this year you’re going to actually have to open what we send you to see what we look like, instead of placing it directly on the Recycle pile.


K demonstrating his very consistent serve in Monroe, MI

K played in his first USTA Junior tennis match last weekend in Monroe. He played two games of singles, and one game of doubles against a talented Monroe YMCA team. He was very evenly matched with his opponents, which is the goal of the organizers. We're impressed with his skills.


M and J went to the UM/OSU game last weekend. It was cold, which caused M to dress like this. UM lost by 1 point in a nailbiter.

Some links I’ve been saving up
Did you know this room existed? Next time I’m in Florida I’m going to see if I can get a tour of this.

I love the trains at Henry Ford Museum, these pictures are almost as good.

Automaton!

There is a ton of time left to buy me this for Christmas.

Robots! (although I like the cars the best)

You’ve probably never heard this musical instrument before. It’s a combination harpsichord, organ, and cello, invented by Leonardo somebody or other. More info.

Sculptures, Tennis, and Pumpkins

Tennis

K (in the white shirt) hits backhand during a two-on-one game at practice.

K has been taking tennis lessons at the U of M indoor tennis center. It's a beautiful facility that looks like it was built about a week ago. His class has roughly10 students, with boys and girls together. These are more serious lessons than ones that he's taken in the past, and he's improving by leaps and bounds. He will probably get to play in a few matches before the lesson season is over - even though his level of group isn't normally scheduled to play matches, they often need students from his level to fill in at the higher levels if someone can't make a game. We're going to see a game tomorrow to take it all in and help prepare if he gets called up to take another player's place.

My Favorite Sculptor

Dad's sculpture at Ella Sharp Museum

Last weekend, our whole family was excited to get a personalized tour of sculptures surrounding the Ella Sharp Museum by experienced sculptor Fred Bruey. Pictured is his latest work "Green Galaxy". The display at Ella Sharp is part of a sculpture series called the Midwest Sculpture Initiative.

We're so proud of dad (and grandpa) for being selected, and we're impressed with his artistry. We can't wait to see his next sculpture on display!

"Green Galaxy" by Alfred Bruey

Pumpkins

J's "Wicked" pumpkin and K's "hothead" pumpkin.

The kids are getting better and better at carving pumpkins from patterns (as am I), and you can see the results here. As is typical, J's wins the prize for most complicated (and probably coolest-looking) with her "Wicked" jack-o-lantern.

M's skull pumpkin is a contrast to the goofy one I carved

Egrets - We've Seen a Few

A white egret relaxes at the pond. We recently saw as many as 9 of these at time in this location.

Middle School Update
M and K are playing soccer for their respective middle school teams. M is a goalkeeper and defensive specialist.  K has played both defense and forward for his team.

M is enjoying his sax and piano lessons, plus soccer and his friends at school. But his very favorite recent event was when his dad went to his math classroom and gave a talk about binary numbers and software development as a career. The math lesson went well - I showed how the decimal number system uses powers of 10 to express numbers, and binary does the same thing, but with powers of two. I think some of the 8th graders actually understood what I was saying, and I was as pleased as any teacher when I got questions from the class. I also showed them what REALLY happens when you browse the web (that is, what data is sent back and forth from your computer to the internet) and showed them some of the Python code that M and K's class wrote last summer.

M is the goalkeeper in this picture. His shirt is a different color than his teammates' so the referee and other players know who the goalkeeper is. 

M faces out of the goal and directly into the sun.  Occupational hazard.

K is about to start a new session of tennis where he'll practice and take lessons in U of M's indoor tennis facility. It should be fun, he's looking forward to it. In addition to attending his second year of Math Olympiad, he's also giving MATHCOUNTS a try. They meet after school to talk about all kinds of math topics.

Family News
We finally made it to Frita Batidos, an Ann Arbor restaurant whose specialties are fritas (sandwiches) and batidos (shakes). We had eaten some of their food at their booth at Top of the Park in recent years, but finally sat at a picnic table in their Washington Street location. Verdict: Going Back Soon.

 I have been using a lot of my spare time to work on my class. It's about functional programming, which is a different way of approaching writing programs than I (and most other developers) are used to. It has been much more demanding on my schedule than I expected. A friend of mine from work talked me into taking it, and we're both a little dazed by the complexity and amount of work. We're no dummies, but the class is certainly stretching our knowledge to the limits.

A Few Links
Tiny things.  Very tiny.

If you were thinking of buying this musical device for me, I'll just take the cash. When I'm a millionaire, I'll buy it then.

However, if you were thinking of buying this Batmobile for me, please don't hesitate. He who hesitates is lost and doesn't have a Batmobile.

A very interesting photo diary of airships.

We Still Have Cats

Mesko and her laser eyes hang out on a lazy afternoon.

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Summer Kickoff: Pool Edition

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M takes a flying leap from the high dive.


K soars with the eagles.


The kids took a swim, I read a book and took a nap, and J relaxed poolside in the sun during our first pool outing this summer. It was a little chilly, but the sun helped quite a bit and the boys didn't really notice, so it was a success.

After that, we took our hungry selves to Satchel's BBQ on the east side of Ann Arbor. I had a half-slab of ribs, coleslaw, collard greens, and cornbread. The rest of the crew had pulled pork and chicken, with some of Satchel's house BBQ sauce on top or on the side. Good stuff!

We are looking forward to two more days of the holiday weekend, and will try to make the most of the good weather that's in the forecast.

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Dad, we're all glad you're feeling better and wish you a speedy full recovery!

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I'm currently working on some instruments that belong to the school music teacher. She gave me four autoharps that need new strings, and four Studio 49 glockenspiels that need new rubber tubing (the tubing that the tone bars rest on.) I'm almost done with them, except for one autoharp that uses strings unlike the ones the other three use. My hourly rate for instrument maintenance is zero dollars per hour for music teachers.

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Relative Quiet

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by Mattias Adolffson

K is now playing soccer, which has one practice a week and usually one game a week. After piano lessons, that's it for now. A relative calm with no pending storms. Next stop: summer break, summer band, swimming, picnicking, and (we hope) a slightly lower temperature average than last year.

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Links
I'd like to see a video of how these work, but I can't find one. They are voice-activated musical instruments.

My brother's next occupation: building travel case-style furniture.

Casting your own parts - if I had some parts to cast, I'd try this.

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