Break out the ice cubes!
It's been a banner day at our household. The temperature hit 50 degrees for the first time in months. I shoveled off the deck to allow use of the gas grill. We grilled our dinner outdoors. And we purchased a new refrigerator. Now a few more details:
Sharon and I have been looking at refrigerators over the last few weeks. This is because the state of Minnesota is offering a $200 rebate if we buy an "Energy Star" qualified appliance and recycle our old appliance. The rebate applied to dishwashers, washing and drying machines, and refrigerators. The only appliance that we hadn't purchased recently was a refrigerator, which we bought when we moved into this house almost 20 years ago, so it was due for replacement. The new refrigerator is a top-of-the-line Samsung, with French doors, bottom freezer, and ice maker/water dispenser which we didn't have before. We weren't planning on buying one today, but Sharon found a good price on this model, so we went for it. The new fridge will arrive on March 23rd.
Yesterday we spent the day at Sharon's parents' house. They are planning on getting a flat-screen TV, which will not fit in their current entertainment center, so they bought a new entertainment center which will accommodate the new TV. Of course, the entertainment center needed to be assembled, so we spent several hours putting it together, moving the audio and video equipment to the new center, and moving the old center out to their garage. The hard part is over - once they buy the new TV, it will be a simple installation.
In other recent news, we had an orchestra concert last weekend. The orchestra played with all the middle school string students in our school district. Since our daughter K is also in middle school and plays clarinet, Sharon asked our conductor if K could play in the concert as well. The conductor said it was OK, so the three of us got to play in a concert for the first time. K also got to go on a ski trip Friday night with other people from our church. Welch Village was open for all-night skiing, so the group got to ski there until 4 AM. I picked her up from the church at 5:30 AM, we went home and both went to bed.
Work has been mellow. I've got two major projects this year, but they are just getting started. The week of Feb. 15th I took a programming course for a new control system we'll be putting in several plants over the next few years. I like to think of it as job security.
Time to sign off. Sandra Bullock won the best actress Oscar. It's about time!
An Olympic day
I'm loving the Winter Olympics so far. The Americans just took 1st and 3rd in women's moguls, and earlier this evening Apolo Ohno won his sixth Olympic medal, tying Bonnie Blair for most medals by an American in the Winter Olympics.
What's also fun is reading the blogs and Tweets of other people watching the Olympics. I regularly read three
blogs of
people that live in
Vancouver, and they have been writing and posting pictures of their live experiences, which you don't hear about on TV. My favorite Tweet was from someone watching k.d. lang perform during the Opening Ceremonies, who said she looked like the love child of Clay Aiken, Christopher Walken, and fat Elvis. We both thought that her singing was superb.
In other news, S's basketball team won their game today, despite being 9 points down in the last period. Sharon and I sat in back of an older couple who was cheering for the opposing team. They had scowls on their faces the entire time. When one of the opposing team members knocked down one of our players, and nothing was called, I yelled, "Foul!" The old lady in front of me barked at me, "That was no foul." They thought they were basketball know-it-alls. I was happy to cheer our team's victory at the end, while the old couple were not pleased.
I still need to get a card and gift for Sharon for V-Day tomorrow. I think V-Day is a holiday manufactured by the candy and greeting card companies, and that it's better to show your love for your partner every day, but women still expect something. I'll probably make a trip to Rosedale Shopping Center tomorrow, where they recently opened a See's Candies store. Before the store opened, you could only get See's in Denver and on the West Coast, and their candy is one of Sharon's favorites.
Everyone will be off work and school on Monday, Presidents' Day, except for me, thanks to my boss. Can't wait!
Labels: 'S', basketball, Olympics
It's getting deep here
The engineer in me had to know exactly how deep the snow was in the yard. So I took the yardstick outdoors and measured in several locations. (And had I had a camera handy, I would have snapped a pic and posted it.)
The answer: An average of 18 inches of compacted snow, including on the roof of the house. Not East Coast deep, but still impressive. Must go out with the roof rake this weekend and knock some of it off. The bottom of the swing set crossbar is 16 inches above the ground.
Labels: Cold weather, snow
Skating away on the thin ice of a new day
It's Thursday and I wish it was the weekend already. I've got a bunch of work tasks to do, none of which inspire me. Also found out today that I was signed up for a 5-day course next week, which my boss neglected to mention to me. Luckily I'm not busy, and the course subject is interesting. But it would have been nice to know sooner.
I went out to the Comcast service center at lunchtime today to pick up more cable TV equipment for home. Comcast's network is going nearly all-digital on March 31st, so without the converter boxes I received today, the kids' bedroom TV's would only receive the basic channels - local channels and community access. Comcast said the boxes were free. I hope so. I'm already paying way too much to watch TV, but I'm addicted to all those HD channels, the DVR, and On Demand movies.
Also looking forward to watching the 2010 Winter Olympics. I love the Olympics, and especially the Winter Games, although I don't actually do any of the sports. Figure skating is my favorite winter sport, followed closely by downhill skiing and the bobsled/luge. Speed skating is pretty interesting too. My hometown, West Allis, Wisconsin, near Milwaukee, for years had the only indoor Olympic-size speed skating oval in the U.S. (There are a few others now.) Because of the oval, a lot of famous speed skaters were from my area. My brother went to high school with
Dan Jansen (when D.J. was in town), and I knew Dan's older sister - not the one who died. Some other speed skaters from Wisconsin included Eric and Beth Heiden, Bonnie Blair, and Chris Witty.
Now that I live in the MSP area, we have another famous local Olympic athlete to cheer on,
Lindsey Vonn. I was bummed to hear yesterday that she injured her shin last week and may not be able to compete in some of the skiing events. Although I just checked the newspapers and after Lindsey took a practice run today she was encouraged that she was able to manage the pain.
We've got a lot of snow on the ground right now. Check out this photo of our house I took this morning:
It's not nearly as much as the East Coast has received this week, but all the small storms and very little melting has added up. My gauge is the crossbar on the swing set in the back yard. Usually the snow does not touch the crossbar. Today the crossbar is about half-covered.
That is all.
Labels: Olympics, snow, TV, work
Faking it
Tonight we have yet another orchestra rehearsal - strings only! Since Sharon and I play string instruments, we don't get out of this one. It's a Mozart violin concerto and isn't too difficult except for the first movement, which is filled with sixteenth notes that fly by at the speed of sound. I'm sure I won't get them all by concert time - less than three weeks away - but hopefully I can play enough of them and "fake" the rest.
One thing that non-musicians may not know is that almost every musical group "fakes" or doesn't play all the notes of a piece when the piece gets difficult. This usually is OK because of two reasons.
1) The audience is not usually familiar with every note of a composition and only notices when something is out of key or doesn't sound right.
2) Some of the parts were intended by the composer to create a certain feeling, such as gentle waves or the sound of a clock, and as long as enough of the correct notes are played to create that feeling, the piece will still sound good.
Some of the classical composers knew their music theory and placed notes where they should be in their compositions. But that doesn't mean that they ever tried to play the notes they wrote on the instruments they were written for! There have been many pieces I've played that I looked at and said, "What drugs was (insert composer's name here) on when he wrote this?" Mozart, however, rarely made his pieces difficult to play, and they are usually very well structured and pleasant to listen to.
In other family news, I'm relearning physics all over again, since S is taking it this semester and I'm helping him with the homework. I like to call it "Late Night Physics" since S usually asks me for help about 10 PM, when I'd like to go to bed. I also took the first step in applying for S's college financial aid, filling out the FAFSA form. I was more than a little disappointed when the calculations showed we will get little to no aid, since our salaries are too high and I was mistakenly responsible by saving too much money for college. Well, maybe if we're lucky we can still get a low-interest student loan.
Got to zip home now for a quick dinner and then to play Mozart.
Labels: 'S', college, music, orchestra
February made me shiver, with every paper I'd deliver
It's time to bring this blog into 2010. So what have I been up to this year so far?
-- A breather at workEveryone and their brother wanted to have their projects completed by the end of the year in 2009. Since we're in the new year, now there are few deadlines. I've been able to take vacation days off that I worked on in December. I still have enough things to do, but it's at my own pace and schedule. No large projects yet, but I have heard about a few that could be interesting.
-- Sharon's brother finally out of the hospitalSharon's brother in California went in for surgery on 11/19/09, and due to a series of complications spent over two months there. This was emotionally draining on him and his family, who were at his bedside almost full-time. Sharon had a few days off of work on MLK weekend, so she flew out to L.A. to see him, cheer him up, and give some relief to the other family members. Her brother finally went home for the last time this past Saturday (1/30). He's doing better and is resting at home.
-- S's college optionsMy son S has been accepted by MSU-Mankato and MSU-St. Cloud, and was put on a waiting list for acceptance at Marquette (my alma mater). He also decided to apply to UW-Milwaukee, since he'd really like to attend a school in a big city away from home. We haven't heard from them yet. Right now St. Cloud is the backup choice, so we're starting to look at financial aid and housing options there, and filling out the FAFSA forms.
-- Vikings disappoint againWith the addition of Brett Favre to the Vikings and HDTV's to our household, we have watched more football this season than in recent memory. I had no high expectations for the Vikings to win in the playoffs, but after the way they pounded Dallas in the first playoff game, I was hopeful. Then the Saints game came along, and even though the Vikings made numerous mistakes during the game, they still had a chance to win at the end. Of course, Brett Favre, who had thrown very few interceptions all season, decided to throw one at the critical point in the game. The Saints capitalized on his error and won. Now on Sunday all I'll get excited about watching are the commercials.
Other than those headlines, we're following our usual winter routines. S is playing rec basketball, K is skiing at Afton Alps, and Sharon and I are rehearsing with the orchestra. Our next concert is on Feb. 28th. More details to come.
Groundhog Day
Nothing beats watching "Groundhog Day" in China. I don't know if the humor translates very well, though.
"When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life. But standing here among the people of Punxsutawney and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts, I couldn't imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter."
Happy Groundhog Day, everyone!
