Science Fair Memories

This past Friday and Saturday I participated in the Central New Mexico Regional Middle and High School Science Fair. Boy did that THAT bring back memories. Unfortunately, science fair projects haven't improved since Allie first made an LED light up with a battery made from a lemon. This time though I talked to the student-exhibitors about jobs and let them look up different jobs and see how many there were, how the job market differed in different states, and how much different jobs paid. The point I was subtly trying to make was that there are a lot of great paying jobs in the computer industry, compared to things student sort of think they might like to do. My big part though, was as the keynote speaker at the awards ceremony where about 800 parents got to hear how great the technology job market is for students with 4 year degrees, and what they can/should do to help their kids prepare for those kinds of jobs. I had lots of great comments of appreciation afterwards from both parents and educators.

Cure for Cabin Fever

Even though we love the snow and winter, and Spring comes a little too early for us alpine sports lovers, sometimes in March, when you get the random warmish, sunny day, you get a craving to just get outside and let the sun warm you up. Jane and I came home from shopping and found this little tableau in our backyard.

Congratulations Seth!

When I returned home on Tuesday from a business trip, Seth had a little surprise waiting for me on my desk. It was a print-out of a message he received from BYU informing him he had received a full tuition scholarship for this fall. Yay! Even though the cost of tuition at BYU - Provo is amazingly low, every little bit helps. Housing is another matter. Housing costs about 150% of tuition in Provo, so we still have to plan and work hard, particularly since Seth will be in college almost two years before he is old enough for a mission, so we are glad he doesn't have to spend his savings all on school.

Family Ski Party at Vail

Last Wednesday, Jason, Leslie and Jordan came to Colorado for a weekend ski vacation at the Vail, Colorado ski resort. We skied Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Even though the resort is a two-hour drive each way, we took the time to visit and look at the beautiful scenery. Jason and Leslie ski, but Jordan doesn't, so while they were at the resort, Jane, Melissa and Bryson took Jordan to the Denver Aquarium, the US Mint, and the Denver Museum. On Friday, James joined us for an epic day on the mountain. A tee-shirt we saw in one of the resort gift shops summarized my personal experience. The shirt said, "If you smell something burning, don't worry, it's only your thighs". Vail is so big and wide in some places that you can be fooled into thinking a run is short when in fact it may be more than two miles long. By the time you've skied to the bottom your legs ache so much from the lactic acid build up in your muscles they shake. Thursday we had about 6"-12" of fresh powder and were almost alone on the mountain in the morning. Friday we had amazing sunshine (like in the picture below), and Saturday we were following the grooming snow cats down the mountain and had fresh groomed runs. One of the magical things that happened is that moisture condensed out of a clear blue ski and fell as light glittery snow that sparkled like diamonds in the sunlight. But what a great time we had! From left to right: Papa Randy, Jarom, Leslie, Jason, James and Seth.

Seth and Alyson at the Sadie Hawkins Dance

Tonight was ThunderRidge High School’s Sadie Hawkins dance ie: Girl ask Guy.  Seth was invited to the dance by Alyson, a young lady he has been seeing recently.  Alyson is in a couple of Seth’s orchestras and goes to his school.  She is LDS and lives in a neighboring ward.  She is really sweet and we like her a lot.

Seth went with a group that met for dinner at one of the girl’s house, and one of the dads set up a fairly professional photo studio in the family room so all the kids got pictures for free.  I stood by and took a quick photo because who knows when we’ll get them. 

Back in the Saddle: a Day out with Levi

November 23, 2009: As I'm running up the basement stairs something in my knee "pops" followed by excruiating pain. An MRI reveals I have a torn meniscus in my left knee.

December 17, 2009: I have arthroscopic surgery on my knee. The procedure is uneventful and subsequently the doctor tells me he also cleaned up a little arthritis that had started.

January 22, 201o: I spend a day skiing with Levi, Jarom and Seth logging about 20 miles on the easy beginner runs at Keystone without any significant pain.

January 23, 2010: I wake up with some muscle soreness and a little twinge in my knee but otherwise it feels fine. Conclusion: I'M BACK!!!

Levi works for Sierra Snowboards in Sacramento, CA, and his company sent him to Colorado this weekend to help out with a big client ski/snowboard event. Since we have season passes for Keystone, it was a great chance to get it some quality "family time" with Levi.

Jarom shows off his new "gig bag" for his goggles.



Riding up the gondola

We're all jealous of Levi's sweet "puffy" jacket.

PS: Jarom thought his facial hair looked so nasty in these pictures that he shaved it all off except for a little chin stash when he came home.

Trip to Pella, Iowa January 20, 2010

This story starts with a bit of geneology. There is a church-owned website called "new.familysearch.org" where you can log in and see not only your ancesters, but can see who has had their temple work done, and who still needs it. Last year I noticed that Albert Colyn (Gerald Guthrie's maternal great grandfather - see pedigree chart below) had some unfinished ordinances. When I explored further, I discovered that two of their children did not have work finished. The notes indicated that my dad had some source that said the children had died of diptheria but no birth or death info was available. Since then I have tried to learn a bit about how you go about doing geneology with the hope that some day I'll be able to find the info about Minnie and Abram Colyn (or Colijn as it was really spelled in Holland).

Last week I traveled to Omaha, Nebraska for work. Omaha is a couple of hours away from Pella, Iowa where the Colyn's lived and many were buried. Since I was pretty close I thought I'd try to get to the cemetary in Pella and see if the family were all buried close to each other and maybe I'd find Minnie and Abram. Pella is about 15 miles due South from Newton, but I didn't get to Newton because I took a direct route from Des Moines that didn't go that far due East.

As Grandma Judy can tell you, Pella is a dutch settlement that is famous for their tulips in late April and early May. There is definitely a dutch influence still in the town with windmills and old-world shops, etc. I stayed at the Royal Amsterdam hotel and had some interesting and delicious dutch foods.

I got there in the middle of an ice storm, so it was really dangerous to walk around since even the dirt road had a half inch of clear ice that was very slick. My hope is to come back next time I visit the schools in Omaha.

This is downtown Pella. I am on the corner of Main and Broadway I think the streets were.

This is the park in the middle of town square

I think this was a grain mill that is still in town and operational, at least for historical tours.

Traffic light and sign coated in ice from the storm

The ice is really thick, even on thin little twigs

My room at the Royal Amsterdam: $79/night

You've all seen phoney frosted class. This is real thing from the inside of my hotel room. The class panes are really clear like normal windows. The frosting is from the ice storm.

Tiny blades of grass with 1/4 inch of ice

Big evergreen tree covered in ice

Chicken wire around a sapling

The top of the sapling

A little piece of pine twig that fell off of the tree. This was laying on the path just as you see it.

This is the entrance to the Graceland Cemetery in Pella. It is located about a mile north of town just off of Main Street. Most of our ancestors from the first generation that settled in the US from Holland are buried here somewhere. There was no attendant at the little office when I was there. The phone number isn't listed either. But I did find a contact number on a directional sign at the end of the driveway.