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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Catching Up With Pictures

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Doing some catch-up with pictures...


Slauson Middle School's orchestra wows the crowd at Hill Auditorium. This was at the Ann Arbor Public Schools Orchestra Night, at which all the public middle and high school orchestras performed.


Here's K after the concert at Hill Auditorium.


A few weeks ago, K was playing another instrument (piano) at Solo and Ensemble. Here's a picture of him and the hardware he collected.


Rounding out K's pictures for the time being, here he is at the MATHCOUNTS competition a few weeks back. Four of these students will be going to the state competition.


Here's M posing for the camera at his Solo and Ensemble. As you already know, his piano solo and sax trio performances each won him a blue medal.

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Some Links
Got an hour? Watch "Mythbusters" host Adam Savage build a scale model. He's made other model videos as well.

That's it. I'm quitting my job and going back to school to learn how to make one of these. I hope my family doesn't mind.

How do people come up with the ideas to make these things? Genius!

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Music, a Movie, and a Book

M (left) plays with his sax trio before the Pioneer High band concert. A number of different ensembles were given a chance to play for the audience, and they were as impressive as when the bands played as a whole.

It's Cold!
It’s been a while – here’s an update from chilly Ann Arbor.

K completed the MATHCOUNTS season by attending the local competition on Monday (he got the day off school!). They practice once a week on Wednesdays after school. Now that they’re done practicing for the year, we’ll have to find him some math to do on Wednesdays.

Music Men
M and K both completed their regional Solo and Ensemble performances recently. M played a piano solo, and a saxophone trio with two of his Pioneer classmates. His solo and trio both received “I” ratings. K’s first performance at a Solo and Ensemble was a piano solo, on which he got a “I” rating. Great job, guys!

A Movie and a Book
We’ve now all seen the movie Selma, about the civil rights movement, and highlighting the walk from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. J and I saw it several weeks ago, and the boys saw it today on one of their days off school.

I’m almost done reading The Idea Factory, a book about Bell Labs and its decades of invention and innovation. Bell was a government-approved monopoly for many years, and in return, Bell offered their patents either free of charge or at a low cost to anyone else. They invented the transistor, satellite communications, and many other things that are still in use today. The transistor is probably the single greatest invention in the history of electronics, allowing products to move away from large and expensive tubes to be smaller, use less energy, and be easier to mass produce.

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Stay warm!

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Happy Fifteenth Birthday, M! (with Auto Show Pictures)

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To celebrate M’s 15th birthday, we visited the 2015 North American International Auto Show.


M wasted no time finding the Corvette


The 2017 Ford GT – one of the best cars in the show


Before leaving the Bentley Mulsanne Speed, please ensure your tray table is in the upright and locked position.


This is the eight-speed automatic transmission from the 2015 Corvette


They say a picture is worth 1000 words. Here is my review of the Smart Electric Drive in fewer than 1000 words.


I’m not sure what to make of this Mercedes concept vehicle. It's part flying saucer, part car.


The Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, first built in 1967.


M captains a Mini Cooper, the car he’s repeatedly said he wants someday when we buy him a car, which means it will be a long time until he has one.


Mercedes’ hybrid engine, transmission, and batteries. I’m not sure what room wil be left for people, but the Germans have it figured out.


J spent an unsettling amount of time in the Cadillacs. I think she’s tiring of the minivan life and is already thinking ahead to what we’ll buy when the kids are out of the house.


Last but not least, this is the prior version of the Ford GT. It’s from the mid-2000s.

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A Wilson Tennis Racquet Christmas Tree. ("Oh, Tennisbaum...")

Unconventional Christmas Lights
This year, as a follow-up to the Christmas Plunger Tree, I bought a wooden tennis racquet at the second-hand shop and spruced it up as a gift to K.

I wrote up instructions and took pictures as I went, and made an Instructable. I've visited the Instructables site many times and thought this would be a good time for me to contribute, after having gotten so many good project ideas from them.



The Return of the Plunger

I don't know what my next project will be. There is a recent trend among makers of installing speakers into novel containers, such as suitcases and tool boxes. Speaking of tool boxes, I'm still only half finished with the one I'm making (or not making, depending on how you look at it).

Maybe I'll make a pinball machine. It looks pretty easy, right?

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Out And About

Wharton’s stage at the Brian Regan show. Not pictured: Brian Regan, because you’re not supposed to take pictures during the show.

Out and About
The Family Unit traveled north to East Lansing (Home of the Michigan State Spartans) to see Brian Regan at Wharton Center. Brian Regan is a comedian, and one of our favorites. He is family-friendly as well as being incredibly funny. We had a great time. On the way there, we stopped at J’s parents’ house to have pizza and watch UM’s basketball team on TV.

The next night, J and I went to the Michigan Theater in downtown Ann Arbor to see a preview of the first show of the upcoming season of PBS’s Downton Abbey. Scandal, humor, and glib Englishness abounded.


The Michigan Theather in Ann Arbor. The weather was much nicer for this Downton Abbey preview than it was for last year’s, so we didn’t mind waiting in line outside.


This is the organ in the Michigan Theater. The organist played Christmas carols before the show.

Important Book Report
Recently, I reported that I found an interesting book at the school where Mark takes his sax lesson. I was there earlier this week, and found a new book whose title I really like.


I think the word “Donald” in the title should be in larger type, don’t you?

Yes, this book is a take on “Where’s Waldo?” and contains pages similar to one of the boys’ old favories, “The Big Book of Search and Find”

I think it is important to sometimes Detect Donald.

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