Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Thanksgiving 2011

We had an absolutely lovely Thanksgiving this year. I spent the morning peeling, cooking, and mashing potatoes while Nancy toiled over the turkey and stuffing and lots of side dishes. We had a plethora of pies, with cousin Chris actually making some with his own hands! (Definitely not the norm for us!) Yum! The food ended up being delicious and all 25 of us had a wonderful time. We later played one of our most nail-biting games of Taboo ever, with the girls pulling out a last-minute victory and winning by one point!

Adam was still on Diego Garcia on Thanksgiving Day and, apparently, the U.S. military folks put out quite a spread for everyone. Then, as if one huge meal wasn't enough, the British police hosted a shindig on Thursday as well. I believe that they called it a Thanksgiving dinner, even though those silly Brits don't even celebrate the holiday. Adam said that they use any excuse to party out there at their Indian Ocean outpost.

I completely forgot to take any pictures at our bash, but one of Adam's fellow grad students snapped a picture of him. Adam is currently winging his way home from southeast Asia and, after traveling for some 24 hours, he will arrive in Detroit tomorrow evening - his birthday. With all of the time zones he is passing through, and by crossing the international dateline, his birthday this year will last for around 37 hours.


Adam enjoying his second Thanksgiving meal of the day with a British (I think) police officer.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

The Accent Wall

Jim, Jacob, and I painted the living/dining room of the condo this week. We have been discussing this for over a year now and were finally - for some unknown reason - motivated enough to tackle the job. The three of us pored over scores of paint swatches and samples until we found the perfect colors. We agreed on a medium brown shade for most of the room, applied a thick coat yesterday, and were very pleased with the result. We then chose a darker brown hue for the wall with our fireplace on it to serve as an "accent wall." Yes, we do occasionally watch HGTV, and, yes, that is where we learned the term "accent wall." (Jim and Jacob have also spent the last few days speaking with cheesy French accents each time I utter the words "accent wall" - as in, "Oui, oui, vee vill paint zee wall madam." So goes my life with wannabe stand-up comics.) We rolled the darker paint onto the fireplace wall this afternoon and waited patiently for it to dry. Nothing quite like watching paint dry. The supposedly darker shade appeared almost identical to the one on the rest of the walls. The paint swatches promised contrast, but there was little to be found. The "accent wall" looks lovely, as do the other walls. I just feel that people will think we ran out of paint or something, hurried back to the store to try to pick a shade similar to the other walls, then mistakenly came home with a color close, but not quite right. It doesn't really look like an "accent wall." It looks more like an "accident wall."

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Lessons in Lunging

On Tuesday afternoon, Jacob sent me a text from the school bus that he had just hurt his leg during 6th hour gym class. His physical education course recently switched over from swimming to running and Jacob has come home fairly sore some days. This time seemed more serious, though, so I drove to the bus stop to pick him up. Jacob was in quite a bit of pain when he hobbled into the car. He complained that something had "pulled or popped" in the area of the hamstring on his left thigh. I wondered how he would be able to complete his required running the rest of the week if he really had a significant injury. I decided to call the doctor to see if Jacob could go in to have everything checked out. In the meantime I asked Jacob to describe exactly what had happened, and he replied that the class had done their usual stretches, then gone upstairs to run on the elevated track. After running 10 minutes or so, the teacher told everyone to stop and lunge. Jacob said that the kids all came to a halt and confusedly looked at each other saying, "What's a lunge?" The teacher instructed the class how to lunge, the runners lunged, and Jacob evidently lunged with much gusto because that is when his muscle stretched too far. When he could barely make it up the condo steps, I gave him some ice for his injury, then phoned the doctor's office for some advice. To make a long story short, Jacob's hamstring was not "pulled" but rather was "strained." His treatment consisted of rest, ice, elevation, and ibuprofen. He was given a doctor's note to forgo running in gym on Wednesday so as not to further aggravate the strain. By Thursday he felt a lot better and was able to work out with the class. On Friday Jacob completed his compulsory 12 minute run. I told him to take it easy from now on because each Friday the mandatory running time will be going up by two minutes. He does not need more lunging injuries - or any injuries for that matter - especially with all of the stairs we have to climb at our three-story condo.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Skype

The leaps and bounds that technology has made in the past two decades never cease to amaze me. I was excited to get my first microwave oven in the late 80s. When I bought a computer in the early 90s, it was awesome. I was thrilled when I finally owned a cell phone in the late 90s - it felt just plain crazy to be able to make a call from anywhere I chose. When the internet came along, I was smitten. In love. How did I ever manage without it? This past summer I finally got a data plan for my cell phone. Internet on my phone? It doesn't get much better than that!

Now I Skype, too. I find it astounding to be able to chat with and see someone on my computer when they are actually very far away. Jake and I have had Skype accounts for a year or so. We initially set them up to talk to Jim while he is in Texas and we are in Michigan. We all see each other so frequently, though, that we haven't really used it for that purpose. When we do Skype, it is usually with Adam from his Colorado apartment. Since Adam took off to Diego Garcia last month, we have Skyped with him twice. It still seems miraculous to me that we are able to talk to, and see, Adam live when he is 10,000 miles from here.


I took pictures of Adam while I was chatting with him on my little - and apparently very dirty - netbook the other night. Adam picked up his laptop and walked over to the beach near his DG office so I could check things out.


My screen doesn't do justice to the beauty of Adam's beach and lagoon. Notice the Navy ships anchored off in the distance.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

When It Rains, It Pours

A few weeks ago, we discovered a damp spot on the dining room ceiling at our condo. We called our management company to send someone out to check the problem. A construction guy showed up the next day and told us that a sprinkler line appeared to be leaking. He said that he could not work on sprinklers and we would have to notify our management people to arrange for someone from the "fire protection" group to do that. As he walked out the door, he smirked, "Hope your pipe doesn't burst!" A week later, a worker from the "fire protection" firm was finally available to come check our now-dripping ceiling. He cut some holes in the drywall and found that there was no sprinkler line anywhere near the leak. Naturally, he was only authorized to work on sprinklers, so he recommended that we call our management company to arrange for a licensed plumber to repair what seemed to be a dripping pipe. As he walked out the door, he quipped, "Hope your pipe doesn't burst!" Six days later, a plumber came to the condo. He peeked at the leak, declared that the problem originated at an upstairs toilet, and proceeded to fix what he called an improperly-installed commode. I now have a new respect for licensed plumbers because - after one construction worker, one sprinkler man, and two weeks of the management company passing the buck - this guy diagnosed and fixed the problem in about 45 minutes. Jake and I had used the upstairs bathrooms sparingly throughout this whole ordeal, and I can assure you that it is once again nice to be able to go to the restroom during the night without trudging down the stairs.

Believe it or not, the dining room ceiling in the Texas house now also has a leak. The issue down there is a roofing problem which was repaired earlier this year, but apparently was not quite patched up correctly. Jim noticed the drip there after two-and-a-half rare (for this year) inches of rain fell the other day. Hopefully any more precipitation will hold off until a worker can mend the roof.


I really started to worry when the condo ceiling actually started dripping water.


We will have to live a while longer with our hole-y drywall since the wood is slightly damp up there. Things should dry more quickly if we leave the ceiling open.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Pictures from Afar

Adam has finally managed to send some photos from his post in the Indian Ocean. To be fair, he said that the internet connection is slow and it took almost an hour to upload these pictures. The weather certainly looks pleasant out there, which I believe is not in the best interest of the DYNAMO climate study. I'm sure it is making for some delightfully fun days for the scientists, though.

Adam ready to launch a balloon.


This "shipping crate" serves as the DYNAMO office.


The inside of the office appears to be in a state of organized chaos. Notice the cot leaning against the far wall. Apparently it was not nap time when this shot was taken.


A Diego Garcia beach. This one is a hop, skip, and jump from the office.


The exterior of the Navy Gateway Inn and Suites.


Adam's digs as seen from one direction.


The room from another direction. I know Adam has become somewhat of a neat freak lately, but - really - where is his stuff?

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Radiosondes and Recreation

Things seem to be going well over on Diego Garcia for Adam and his research partners. The three grad students and their technician have divided up their work days into three shifts. During each shift, a number of weather balloons are launched and then monitored for up to two hours each. The balloons carry an instrument pack called a radiosonde that transmits atmospheric data back to a computer. Once the balloon reaches 80,000 feet or so, it bursts and everything just falls back to earth. I asked Adam how they can be sure that their meteorology junk doesn't interfere with passing planes and he assured me that the radiosonde & balloon are so lightweight that an aircraft would annihilate them on contact. Plus, they do contact air traffic control prior to each launch. Weather balloons are deployed twice each day - every single day - at over 800 locations around the globe, so I suppose if they were problematic to aircraft we would have heard about it by now.

The area where the DYNAMO office is set up on Diego Garcia was previously a "tent city" for troops during the height of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is empty now except for several work trailers and some probably-high-tech and necessary scientific weather devices. Adam said that curious Navy and Air Force personnel have dropped by to visit, and some friendly military guys gave them a cot for napping during their overnight shifts. (Napping? Are they in kindergarten? Geez, I'm glad they are not the air traffic controllers!) There is a beautiful beach steps away from their work place and Adam said he has gone for a dip or two, maybe between balloon launches? He eats meals at the Officer's Club, cruises around the island in some sort of nice-looking Ford truck, and has even attempted to windsurf. Hopefully some pictures will arrive any day now, as I am looking forward to seeing what this Shangri-la looks like. I'm sure Adam will send some as soon he gets a break from the horribly laborious life he is leading there.

It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.