Well, it's been a while since I've written anything. Here are a few random things that have been going on lately...
Power outage
A couple of days ago the power went out in our neighborhood. They're digging up the three streets south of us to put in sewer lines, and I suspect somebody hit a line or a transformer with a backhoe. Anyway, it was out for an hour or so. When it came back on, everything was fine except for one circuit (that has the TV, VCRs, DVD players, computer, printers, and fish tank on it). We found the breaker for that circuit was tripped, but it immediately tripped again when we tried to turn it on. I started unplugging things as Daniel tried flipping the breaker on again -- and quickly found that the power strip was shooting sparks and flames out of the receptacles when the power was turned on. It was kind of cool, but I'm sure glad there was nothing flammable right in front of it. Daniel was disappointed he didn't get to see it, and tried to talk me into flipping the breaker on a few more times so he could watch. I managed to convince him that while it was indeed cool to see, it wasn't cool enough to risk burning the house down.
Housing
Rachel got signed up for on-campus housing for the fall. The system is really cool -- it shows what buildings have vacancies and how many, and then you can click on that to see the vacancies by floor, and then choose one to bring up a map of the dorm showing which beds are spoken for and which are still available. Clicking on a reserved bed brings up answers to a brief survey that the person filled out, so you can see if, say, the person reports themselves to be messy, go to bed early, and love rap music so you know not to choose them for a roommate.
Once she he got signed up, she was able to go back and see her roommate's name. It was then a quick matter to type the name into Facebook, and pretty quick she knew a lot about her. A lot different from the "old days" where you just showed up and met your roommates the first day.
Constitution
Daniel's class did a project where each of the kids had to research an aspect of the Constitution, write an essay, and then present it orally. It was pretty good. I'm trying to get a copy of his essay. If I do, I'll post it so you can see. I thought the elementary school kids did a good job of understanding and presenting information about the Constitution. I was thinking it would be good if they could take their presentation on the road and deliver it in Washington. I think some of the administration and Congress could use a refresher course.
Orchestra
Lisa's orchestra played a concert last week. They're getting to be pretty good. This one was kind of fun, with a traditional piece (something by Haydn, I think), a contemporary, Asian-tinged classical piece that included parts for koto and rain stick, and then a kind of strange one called Rosin-eating Zombies from Outer Space. It was pretty cool, and she played really well (in my totally objective opinion).
Snowboarding
Andrew and Daniel decided they'd like to try snowboarding, so we did. I'd heard people say it has a steeper learning curve than skiing, and that seems to be true. I'd also heard people say that you fall harder and faster, and that also seems to be true. After a run or two Andrew decided he really wanted a helmet because he kept smacking his head pretty hard. Crashes aren't as spectacular as skiing, because you don't get the whole "yard sale" effect of equipment flying everywhere, but they happen more often and hurt more.
Here they are getting ready to take another run.
