Geek Tour of Washington DC

Last weekend Microsoft held its US student technology competition finals in Washington DC. On one of the days we gave the attendees a choice of going to the aerospace museum, spy museum, trolley tour or a Segway scooter tour of the White House and Capital Mall. I opted for the Segway tour, which was definitely the geeky-est event, but definitely the most fun. We had a bit of training at first, but it wasn't all that hard to figure out how to make it go and to steer. Given the amount of time I've spent on skis this winter, I was clearly the most comfortable and confident in my group; the moves are remarkably similar. Top speed was about 11mph, but we could go on streets or sidewalks and covered about 6 miles total in 3 hours. Lots of fun and a great way to get around. Too expensive to buy ($5,800) but a great way to get around DC.

Mount Rushmore in April

On April 12th I paid a visit to the South Dakota School of Mines in Rapid City, South Dakota. Upon my arrival, my host took me out to a quick salad lunch and then drove me 30 minutes to Mount Rushmore. We stayed about an hour looking at the mountain, and walking through the visitor's center. Inside the visitor's center they have some of the original tools used to sculpt the presidents' faces, and the original models. It is pretty impressive, but you can't get much closer than shown in the pictures we took. As we were leaving the park there was a mountain goat munching grass out on the lawn like it was no big deal.

Seth's Senior Prom Pics

Tonight is Seth's Senior Prom. The dance is at the Denver Center for Performing Arts downtown, and then "after prom" (the Colorado equivalent of Grad Night) is at the school until 4am, then breakfast at one of the kids' house served by their parents. One of the guys in our ward has a retired fire truck that he uses to promote his real estate business, and Seth's friend Coleton borrowed it to pick up his date (his dad who is a fireman drove it). It provided some fun picture opportunities. Seth took his girl Alyson (whom we adore). All the guys in the group are Seth's best friends from church.

Random Stuff on my Phone

This is the sign as you leave the secuity checkpoint at Milwaukee International Airport. I didn't happen to notice the sign over the security checkpoint, but I loved the local humor. I'm sure I committed a felony taking this picture.



So the big event for Mom when we spent the weekend in Arizona wasn't being together or me in particular, but this big national meeting of the "Red Hat" ladies. This is a social group of mostly retired women that get together, play dress up, and wear big/red hats. Mom was so thrilled and excited, and couldn't for the life of her figure out why I didn't think it was the neatest thing I've ever heard of. Next door to the convention was this boutique where you could rent/buy dress up outfits for your favorite old movie star, and then buy hats and accessories. Mom thought this lady was just what she wanted to be when she grows up. I'll pass thank-you very much...

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.