I don't really know why you'd be here. I mean, I know I'm the single most interesting person, but don't you people have lives? Really, it's quite sad.
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Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Ashes, ashes, they all fall DOWN!
Ames was buzzing with all kinds of excitement yesterday and probably about half the town took time off in the morning to watch two of the most prominent features of the Ames, Iowa, skyline disappear forever. Throughout my whole life I have always looked for the Towers when driving back to Ames from every direction. They looked like four suitcases you could just pick up and carry around. This morning, as I drove down the street that runs just north of these Iowa State University Residence halls, I was struck by a feeling that things weren't as they should be--as they have always been--even though I know and witnessed the reason for the blue sky through the trees of Storm Street. I never realized you could look up and see Knapp Hall through the trees along that street until this morning when I drove down it and it felt weird before I ever reached the block on which these buildings resided. Knapp Hall was my father's home for three and a half years of college. The dorm was 2 years old when he started living there--on the top (10th) floor. It is now only a 40 ft. pile of concrete.
I had watched implosions of buildings on TV before, but it is nothing compared to being able to actually witness it in person. Even a personal video recording of it (which I have--fuzziness and all) is more exciting than the professional news casts of it. One of the most impressive things about this particular implosion is that they imploded two 12-story buildings simultaneously, while attempting to save the building between the two. According to all reports I've heard so far, it seems to have worked exactly as they hoped it would.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
The coolest thing since air conditioners
Google Earth. This is just the most fun program ever! And Helen, it works so much better on a Thursday afternoon with a brand new computer and super-fast DSL connection. I found all of Yosemite Valley--labeled and everything!--and it doesn't look like St. Louis or a big black square! :-D So my recommendation if you've got the computer capabilities: go kill a few weeks with it. ;-)
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
The lack of intelligence in graduate students astounds me
I just received a phone call from a graduate student at Iowa State wondering if she could send us a flyer asking for people to be in her study. When she asked where to send it, I spelled my name for her (not uncommon at all), then she asked for the spelling of "Collegiate Presbyterian." Are those two words really that difficult? And how did someone who doesn't know how to spell "collegiate" get into grad school?
Friday, July 08, 2005
"No, it has to be planned. It should be magical. There should be music playing and romantic lighting and a subtle buildup to the popping of the big question. There should be a thousand yellow daisies and candles and a horse and--I don't know what the horse is doing there unless you're riding it, which seems a little over the top--but it should be more than this."
We could not have asked for or planned a better engagement/proposal if we'd tried.
About a week ago, Paul told me he'd been wanting to catch a sunrise at Ledges State Park sometime. [Though he was trying to make it sound like just one of those crazy things he comes up with--and it would be--I was not fooled because I knew the proposal was coming.] I tried to play along and said, "OK, do you want to go Sunday or Monday?" "Let's go Monday."
We both got up at 5:00 Monday morning, July 4th, and drove out to the Ledges where he grabbed his camera and we hiked to the spot overlooking the Des Moines River that he'd taken me to the first time we went hiking there back in November. It was amazing and we couldn't have asked for better weather: There was a beautiful sunrise in the northeast and a thunderstorm coming up from the southwest. After taking some pictures, he sat down next to me, put his arms around me, and asked, "Will you marry me?" Shortly after the positive response from me and him giving me the engagement ring, the storm started moving over us and we got caught out in the rain! It was perfect.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
A picture is worth a thousand words...
