Travis and Eva-Lynn's Excellent Adventures

The Chronicles of the Southbound Bus

2010-10-06T18:22:00.003-06:00

For anyone still out there in blog-land, i just wanted to give a shout-out to by brother's blog:

http://busadventure.blogspot.com/

He and a few friends are headed south, to Mexico and Central America, in an old yellow school bus that they've converted into the ultimate homemade "surf RV." At the moment, they're stuck at the border, trying to get the bus into Mexico as legally as possible. Anyway, keeping checking their blog over the next few months, there are bound to be some crazy adventures along the way...

God Particles on the Brain

2010-06-25T17:01:00.011-06:00

The "God Particle" has popped back up in the news lately, and as a result I've had a few people bring it up in conversation... asking me about it, or pointing out its awesomeness. Since we all know how much I love talking about science, I thought I'd write up a couple responses (in regular-person, non-scientist English!) to the two most common questions I've gotten... (1) What is it, and (2) Whaddya mean it's the "God" particle?

(1) "What the heck is a Higgs Boson, and why do we care about it???"

Everything around you is made of matter.... rocks, water, air, toothpaste, yesterday's leftovers, everything. All matter is made of molecules, and all molecules are made of atoms -- carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, silicon, the whole list from the periodic table. But... what are atoms made of? Scientists have figured out they're put together from a bunch of "elementary particles", some of which you may (or may not) have heard of. Electrons, neutrinos, photons, six kinds of quarks (up quark, down quark, strange quark...), muons, gluons, etc etc -- 12 particles in all. We know a lot about these particles -- their charges, how they "spin", how they behave.

One thing is odd, though... they all have very different masses*. Photons (what light is made of) don't have mass at all. Electrons have a tiny bit of mass. Quarks can be huuuugely massive (relatively speaking) -- hundreds of thousands of times heavier than the electron. What exactly determines how much those guys weigh??? There are a few "models" that theoretical physicists (the ones who sit around doing tons of really hard math) and research physicists (the ones who build huge machines to smash atoms together) have developed to explain what we know about these particles -- including their masses.

The theory that seems to explain our observations the best, the "Standard Model" (since most physicists think it is true), predicts that in addition to the 12 elementary particles we've directly identified, there is one more -- the Higgs boson. This Standard Model says that all 12 of the elementary particles we've observed are actually massless -- they have NO weight at all, just like photons. Instead, elementary particles that DO have weight get it by interacting with the Higgs boson -- or, specifically, a "field" generated by the Higgs boson. Think of this Higgs field like a thick molasses that permeates the universe, and "sticks" to particles moving through it. Some stick more, some less, some slide through without sticking at all... but the more those particles stick, the "heavier" they seem to us Earthlings, as we study them.

So ANYWAY, this hypothetical Higgs boson makes all the math work out just right, so that the Standard Model very accurately predicts the way we see all of those elementary particles behaving. (In fact, the Standard Model, finalized in the 1970's, actually predicted the existence of particles that we didn't actually see until the last decade or so, once we had built atom-smashers big enough to detect them.) For at least 40 years, the Standard Model has stood the test of time -- so far. There's just one more particle left to find... the Higgs Boson.**

Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider (or its little brother, the Fermilab Tevatron) are hoping to smash atoms together hard enough that the Higgs boson pops out -- probably for less than a "septillionth" of a second. That's NOT very long. But it would be long enough to catch a glimpse of the little guy, and provide even more evidence that the Standard Model is right after all. This has physicists very excited -- in their own words, every time they switch on their atom-smasher, they feel like "a bunch of kids on Christmas morning," ready to rip open the biggest present ever.

(2) "So WHY is everyone calling it the 'God Particle'?"

The idea is that the Higgs boson is a lot like God.... We can't see it, but (if it exists) it's literally EVERYWHERE -- all around us, inside us, permeating the universe. It's not that it actually has anything to do with God, or spirituality, or the supernatural, or anything like that -- it's just a catchy name that grabs people's attention (which is why the media -- and the movie "Angels and Demons" -- love it so much).

Although the term is popular in the media, most scientists actually are NOT fans of calling the Higgs boson the God particle... they realize that it grabs people's attention for totally erroneous reasons. (The Public: "WHAT? Science is trying to discover/disprove/explain GOD!??!?" The Media: "Well, no, not really. But we sure got your attention, eh?") Public controversy aside, most scientists also think the term overstates the importance of the Higgs boson, when really it's just 1 out of the 13 elementary particles. They actually held a re-naming competition to celebrate the 80th birthday of Dr. Peter Higgs (who first proposed the particle). The winning entry was the "Champagne Bottle Particle", which just goes to show you that sometimes scientists are pretty clueless when it comes to thinking up catchy names.

[Speaking of lousy nicknames, my first thought was to refer to it as the Kenobi Particle... ("It surrounds us, and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together...." -- Obi-wan Kenobi) Some physicists also joke that the term is short for the God-d*** Particle, because of how difficult it is to detect....]

Some people have been making a big deal out of the fact that the Higgs boson "creates mass" or "creates something from nothing".... isn't that God's department??? Does the Higgs boson "disprove" or "explain away" God? Well, no. The Higgs boson doesn't "create" mass... it IS mass (if the Standard Model is right), just like light IS photons. Getting closer to a fundamental understanding of what light (or mass) is doesn't tell us anything about how either of them initially got here (two of the most common options being "spontaneously" and "God created them".)

Rock it, Science! Rock it good!!!

--Travis

* If the term "mass" confuses you, just mentally substitute "weight" in whenever you see mass. They're not exactly the same, but close enough for our purposes.

**As good as the Standard Model is, there are other, competing theories that explain the behavior of the particles that we can see without the need for a Higgs boson. These "Higgsless Models" and the Standard Model make slightly different predictions about what we'd see when we smash atoms together. So, that's one major thing physicists do... set up experiments that would give specific results, results that would match up better with one theory much better than any of the others. Finding the Higgs boson is a perfect example of this.... the Standard Model says we'll find it under specific conditions, the Higgsless Models say we won't. Who's right? Only time (and massive atom-smashers) will tell...

Just a taste...

2010-02-08T01:45:00.000-07:00

...of the many December/January photos to come.... :)

Eva-Lynn's Day 1 snowboarding this year!

Dad and Kel

The Lund Brothers

The Pinto Bean and The Padded Bean

Thanksgiving Road Trip

2009-11-28T21:32:00.002-07:00

Took an awesome road trip last weekend with a couple friends, Jon and Scott... started with Arches National Park:

(A lot more photos from the trip here...)

Hard to tell here, but all four of us are up the tree. There was a lot of climbing and jumping this trip.... :)

Sunset at Delicate Arch

Next day was Canyonlands National Park:

And finally, snowshoeing, north of Durango:

Mimi's 90th birthday!

2009-11-19T16:33:00.001-07:00

Last month, Eva-Lynn, Kelly, and I flew back to California to celebrate my grandma Mimi's 90th birthday with her. It was awesome! We made her wear the crown all day. :)

It was actually a joint birthday party for a bunch of people... Tom's birthday was that day, Yvonne had just had one, and Vicki's was in a few weeks.

She looks a bit dazzled....

The card played "Macho Man"....

Yvonne was turning (mumble mumble) years young!

Vicki's card is of a teddy bear strapped to a bottle rocket... it says "I'm moving to another planet." :)

And of course, no visit is complete without games...

I think Eva-Lynn had just rolled a Yahtzee here.

Happy Birthday, Mimi!!!

(I love her face here....)

Halloween Hike

2009-11-15T02:09:00.003-07:00

I didn't take many pictures at all of the fall GCF retreat this year... mostly of this hike and other Saturday afternoon activities, and some shots of our costumes. I still want to get photos from the costume party that night... anyone want to burn me a CD?

You can download these photos and more from the day here.

So epic.

An unusual group photo pose...

We had our safety bumper-tubes on as we hiked up to go tubing.

Bumper-tube chest bump!!!

Scott attempted to roll down the hill in a couple of tubes. It worked for a minute....

Some front-flip action:

Alice and the Mad Hatter

2009-11-14T14:44:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos of our Halloween costumes, for those of you who haven't been enjoying them on facebook....

Elk Attack!

2009-10-03T20:47:00.007-06:00

Ok, not an attack really, but those elk were intense. We headed up to Estes Park to enjoy the fall colors and the elk rutting season... in other words, lots of elk strutting around, bugling, and threatening anything that came near their herd of elk lady-friends. We were super close to one male and his harem (that's actually the term) in a little town... he was just 15 feet or so away at times, running back and forth, waving his antlers at everything in sight. Eva-Lynn was afraid he was going to step a little too close and scratch the paint on her car.... (online album here)

The guy in back had a great view of the herd from his front porch.

One man, over 20 ladies. Good ratio.

We also did a hike in Rocky Mt National Park.....

Forest Troll?

Fall Aspen

It's hard to tell who is more scared here...

Johnson Wedding Reception

2009-09-30T11:42:00.003-06:00

And, last but not least... some fun shots from the reception:

Johnson Wedding, continued...

2009-09-26T13:54:00.002-06:00

Here are some of my favorite group/couple shots from the day....

Johnson Wedding - Ceremony

2009-09-22T10:49:00.003-06:00

Photos from the ceremony....

Johnson Wedding Photos!!!

2009-09-16T18:42:00.009-06:00

I'm nearing the end of the sorting/editing/fancify-ing process for the pictures Dad and I took at Eva-Lynn's brother's wedding. I've definitely learned a lot about processing 4,000 photos... things that I like doing, and things that I'll do differently next time (assuming there is a next time....)

Anyway, here are the first set... some of my favorites from what I call the "prepping" phase of the wedding day. As always, you can also enjoy these shots, and more, as a great full-screen slideshow of the Picasa album...

Carb-loading is important for any wedding.

The Secret Is Out

2009-08-26T00:47:00.003-06:00

Another fantastically true XKCD webcomic.... (click to embiggen)

That's the last comic for a while, I promise.... The next post will have photos, and maybe even a fun story or two. ;)

PhD Vacation

2009-08-09T22:32:00.002-06:00

Remember PhD Comics, that depressingly accurate take on grad student life? Another one hit the nail on the head... and coincides perfectly with my latest two-week vacation. This is totally my progression over the past couple years....

Also, this one:

The Price Family

2009-07-26T03:00:00.004-06:00

Hey folks! Sorry for the lack of posts over the last month... been busy visiting Oregon, studying for another mega-exam, and road-tripping across the Southwest (we're headed to the Grand Canyon tomorrow!). I'll get photos up from that stuff eventually... in the meantime, here are some shots from a photo shoot I did with a family a few weeks ago.... full slideshow here!

Alina the Flutist

2009-06-24T15:14:00.004-06:00

Or Alina the Flautist, if you prefer. Apparently there's quite a debate about which term is best. I prefer flutist, personally... flautist just sounds way to close to flatus, in my opinion....

If you haven't figured it out, this post is the sequel to Tara the Dancer. In my continuing mission to practice portrait photography for my brother-in-law's wedding, I did another photo shoot, this time with Alina, a graduate student in music here at CU. Here are some of the best shots... or click here for a glorious full-screen slideshow, courtesy of Picasa!

Adventures in So-Col

2009-06-10T13:40:00.011-06:00

Last weekend we took a three-and-a-half day road trip to Southern Colorado, and checked out a bunch of awesome stuff down there. I've recently discovered the awesomeness of the new full-screen slideshow option in Picasa web albums... click HERE for all the best photos, complete with witty commentary! Or, scroll on down for a few of the best shots....

First -- Mesa Verde National Park. Home of the 800-year-old cliff dwellings of the "ancestral Pueblo people" (the artists formerly known as the Anasazi).

Cliff Palace -- the largest cliff dwelling in North America

Square Tower House

Inside a reconstructed kiva

Back at the campsite, enjoying a gourmet PB&J dinner...

...and some card-game action.

After Mesa Verde, we stopped at the Four Corners monument, where you can put a different limb in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah:

It's also a fantastic spot for what I dubbed Four Corners Twister. "Left hand... Colorado! Right foot... Utah!"

Our last stop was at Great Sand Dunes National Park... a randomly misplaced sea of sand in the middle of Colorado. It actually has the tallest dunes in North America, at 750 feet.

We hike to the top of "High Dune," 650 feet tall, giving us a 360 degree panorama of sand.

19,000 acres of dunes

(For size perspective, notice the hikers in the lower center.)

Tara the Dancer

2009-06-02T20:39:00.009-06:00

This July, my dad and I are going to be the photographers at my brother-in-law Tyler's wedding. To get in some practice photographing people in a "photo shoot" setting, I put the word out that I would do portrait sessions with people for free (that's the "project" I mentioned I was working on in the last post). I had plenty of responses... "free" gets people's attention. :)

My first shoot was with Tara, a graduate student studying dance here at CU. It was a great warm-up session for me... she brought a ton of props, dance routines, and ideas for the shoot, so I didn't have to worry too much about thinking up creative poses or anything for her -- I just got to focus on the "camera-technique" side of things. Here are some of my favorite shots from the session.... bigger versions here, and the full album is on Picasa here. (Notice that Picasa now has a full-screen/slideshow option. Sweet!)

Travel Photography

2009-05-20T21:28:00.005-06:00

It's been a while.... I figured I should probably get something new up here for you all to enjoy. :)

For a project I'm working on (more about that in later posts), I found that I really needed to be able to show people a sampling of some of my past photography. So, I recently browsed through several thousand photos and uploaded a sampling of some of my better shots to a Picasa album, if you want to check them out.

My favorite part of the process, though, was rediscovering some of the photos I'd taken in various international adventures with my little Pentax point-and-shoot. I'm sure they aren't all that spectacular to everybody else, but man, the memories they call to mind! Eva-Lynn and I are having lots of fun traveling around the nearby states, but we're both dying to do some international travel again. Someday...

Anyway, here are some cool shots from around the world. Enjoy your virtual vacation.... and, as always.... same post, bigger pictures at travislundphotography.blogspot.com. :)

A Hill Tribe woman (Hmong, if I remember right) in northern Thailand

I really like this picture for some reason. It was taken on the steps of a church in Lima, Peru.

Machu Picchu at sunrise, seen from the ancient "Camino Inka" (Inca Trail)

A craftsman in Montecristi, Ecuador -- home of the so-called "Panama hat"

Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina (Patagonia). Those ice spires are hundreds of feet high, and would occasionally come crashing down....

Hopkins, Belize - location of Eva-Lynn and my first international trip together (honeymoon!)

Oink!

2009-05-05T23:34:00.004-06:00

"You FOOL!!! You've killed us all...."

Woo-hoo... Three cases of swine flu detected on campus here at CU-Boulder.... [Locks door and scrubs exposed skin with disinfectant hand gel]

In other news... my adviser (Rob Kuchta) is in the news:

"CU professor Robert Kuchta, of the chemistry and biochemistry department, along with former CU-Boulder professor Kathy Rowlen, developed and licensed a commercial technology in 2006 to determine the genetic signature of specific influenza strains within hours. He said the technology could easily be reconfigured to identify and track the swine flu. Kuchta said he'd be willing to let the Centers for Disease Control use the technology, which could prove useful in helping health officials stem potential flu pandemics."

Full story here.... and here's a good article from 2005 about the flu chip our lab developed.

Incidentally, I'm seriously not a fan of calling this the "H1N1 virus"...

Firstly (and most importantly) -- "H1N1 virus" is not nearly as catchy as "swine flu." :)
Secondly -- Different strains of the "Influenza A H1N1" virus are what cause the regular "seasonal" flu every year! This is just one of many, many H1N1 strains (it's actually a hybrid of common human, bird, and swine A-H1N1 strains). So, for crying out loud... calling it the "H1N1 flu" doesn't distinguish it at all from the regular flu! (I think the best name I've heard is the "hybrid" flu....)
Lastly -- without a fun name like swine flu, we wouldn't have been entertained by irrational reactions worldwide, or by using Twitter to watch "uninformed panics unfold live"....

Pass the ham!

March Madness Group Photos!!!

2009-04-22T00:44:00.009-06:00

So, if you haven't already heard, I passed my mega orals exam!!! (See the previous post for a description of the horror....) After properly celebrating, and then choosing to do absolutely nothing constructive with my brain for a few evenings, I've started going through all the photos from spring break (affectionately referred to as "March Madness"). I'll get the rest up soon, but tonight I grabbed a bunch of the best group shots and uploaded them to an online Picasa album. A few of my favorites are below... (OR check them out much bigger (and better!!!) at travislundphotography.blogspot.com!!!)

Visiting Rocky Mountain National Park

Can you find all 9?

Yup, 9 of us in one 4Runner. It saved us entrance fees!!!

Red Rocks rockers.

Rocking out!!!

Still a band.... We're all playing a different instrument. I think Mark's playing his mouth.

After the Celestial Seasonings factory tour, sporting our spiffy hair (and beard) nets

Be bold!

I see one flower that doesn't want to blossom...

Ready for liftoff

Ready for sledding (after it snowed a foot and a half overnight)

Ready for cozy bookstores and pancakes!

More to come....

The Life of a Mad Scientist

2009-04-05T00:36:00.011-06:00

Yup, I'm still alive... just studying my brains out for my Oral Qualifying Exam on April 15th (ironically... Tax Day!). Basically, I'm going to have to stand up in front of a bunch of professors for a couple hours and answer every question they throw at me. If I demonstrate to their satisfaction that I still remember everything I ever learned about chemistry, they will smile upon me and allow me to remain in the PhD program. If not.... well, let's just hope I pass.

On the other hand... last week was awesome! About a dozen great friends from college (and Eva-Lynn's parents!) came and visited over spring break. We had a blast, and, of course, collectively took well over a thousand photos and videos. With all the Orals studying I need to do, I won't have a chance to sort through them for a couple weeks, but I'll get some of the best ones up eventually.

In the meantime, here's a glimpse into the real life of a mad scientist (aka, Me) courtesy of the comic Abstruse Goose.... (click to make it bigger...)

The sad thing is, I've actually done most of that stuff before.....

March Forth!

2009-03-11T02:54:00.005-06:00

That's right! The time has come, once again, for that very special day... the only day on the calendar that's a command.... Happy birthday, me! I actually turned a quarter-century old this year.... (I'm OLD!!!)

Here's a hodgepodge a photos from my birthday week....

Kirsten Green happened to be in town a couple days beforehand, for an interview at the University of Colorado business school. Kel stopped by, and we had a little pre-birthday Otter Pop Party. Another highlight of that night: a rousing game of Crescent City Trivia. (Questions included such stumpers as "What is the altitude of Crescent City?" and "What is Matt Hildebrandt's middle name?")

The lovely Chef Lund is at it again....

Birthday cupcakes!!!!

We had a bunch of friends over on Saturday for a game night (hence, all the cupcakes)..... Eva-Lynn got me Jungle Speed for my birthday (awesome game!!!!), so we got a few rounds of that in.....

Here I am indicating who's NUMBER ONE! (Me.)

(Jungle speed can be quite unruly.)

(Incidentally, the CC Trivia answers are "43 feet" and "Lee"....)

Winter Retreat

2009-02-28T20:56:00.001-07:00

Once again, for the same post with bigger pictures, visit travislundphotography.blogspot.com.... :o)

Last weekend was CU-Boulder's Graduate Christian Fellowship winter retreat. We had a really awesome time hanging out with a bunch of cool people at a sweet cabin near Winter Park....

Roasting s'mores...

One of those ball-rolling puzzle games... in this one, though, you had to get the colors in the right places. Eva-Lynn was a natural....

Saturday afternoon we headed out with a group to go snowshoeing...

Eva-Lynn had the idea of making a huge drawing in the snow, oriented so that it would be visible from the cabin (at the top of a hill).... here's her scale model of our stick figure. We named him Art. :)

Nate, standing at Art's adam's apple.

And the final product, viewed from the cabin. See him?

Will You Be Mine?

2009-02-18T02:58:00.007-07:00

We had a really awesome, fun-yet-relaxing Valentine's Day weekend this year....

We kicked it off by sleeping in until noon (ok, until after noon... sleeping in is one of our rare pleasures...), followed by some very specially shaped pancakes, courtesy of Chef Lund. (Hint: not me.)

Proving that she really knows her game-geek husband, Eva-Lynn got me a sweet board game for Valentine's Day.... We'd recently played a related game, India Rails, with some friends, and we both really liked it. Hence.... Australian Rails!

You get to draw right on the game board with dry-erase markers. Very cool.

(Incidentally, I proved that I really know my wife by giving her gift certificates to buy herself lots of CLOTHES for Valentine's Day. And by helping her track down her favorite only-available-between-Valentine's-Day-and-Easter candy. I'm the MAN. :)

Sunday morning we headed up to Eldora (a nearby ski resort) for a very successful "first" day of snowboarding for Eva-Lynn. She had been snowboarding once before, but it was years ago, in Oregon. This was her first trip with me, in Colorado.... and she did great!!! I was very impressed. :)

First time up the lift!

Umm, so, we can take this green run, or that green run.... hmmm, they're all green....

Sunday night we visited my brother's church, and finished off another game of Australian Rails. In the end, we had a really awesome weekend together. Sorry, guys.... hate to tell you, but I've definitely got the coolest wife on the planet. In your FACE! :)

Arches National Park

2009-01-30T23:09:00.005-07:00

.... was incredible! It's totally my favorite of the, you know, "desert-themed" parks (Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon, Lake Powell...).

First, let me say.... I highly, HIGHLY recommend going over to the other blog I just set up, with larger versions of these same pictures. Looking at them this size doesn't do them justice..... and Eva-Lynn and I are way too tiny, compared to the landscapes. So as long as you have a decently fast internet connection and a good computer screen, seriously, go look at them at travislundphotography.blogspot.com. If, on the other hand, you're still using dial-up (hi, Mom and Dad!), or any slow connection, scroll on down!

Anyway, Arches was totally awesome. The great thing was, since it's the middle of winter, the park was totally deserted... we practically had the place to ourselves. Which made taking fun pictures that much easier....

The Difference

2009-01-27T13:09:00.004-07:00

Admit it, deep down, even the normal person wonders....

On an unrelated note... we went to Arches National Park over the three-day MLK weekend, and I took hundreds of photos. Shocker, I know... anyway, I'll have some of the best ones up soon. Check back in a day or two!

Apertures and F-stops

2009-01-20T01:08:00.005-07:00

I picked up a used lens (a 50mm, f/1.8 Canon) for 25 bucks the other day, and snapped a bunch of random shots on the way home (and at home) to try it out.

I knew before I bought it that a lens with an f-number as low as 1.8 gives you shots with a very shallow depth of field.... whatever you focus on is sharp, while objects any distance into the background or foreground quickly get blurry, giving you a nice effect:

What I didn't realize (or take a minute to think about) was that since a small f-number means the aperture opens really wide during the shot, it also means that much more light can be let in than usual... so it works great in low-light situations.

I took this one expecting to get the blurred-headlight effect, and was totally surprised to see it come out so clearly:

Muppet!

2009-01-16T12:04:00.000-07:00

High contrast, Mortinson-style.

The dog doesn't seem to be as interested in the new car as everyone else.

Not Muppet. Cool anyway.

Random Christmas shots

2009-01-13T14:20:00.000-07:00

My parents have been luring this fox in with dog food...
This is a picture Dad took through the sliding glass window.

New Year's Eve "Bash"

2009-01-10T19:34:00.007-07:00

New Year's Eve found us back at the Starr's, welcoming 2009 in style:

The first order of business in the new year was disposing of the many gingerbread houses left over from the Christmas party, in a variety of fun and interesting ways.

Condemned

Bash!

Gingerbread roadkill

I thought this was a great launch, until I took a closer look.....

We're not in Kansas any more....

There was also much gaming.... Pictionary, Jungle Speed, Blokus.....

Emcee duties by the one and only Micah W.!!!

Happy New Year!

All-Starr Christmas party!

2009-01-07T19:07:00.003-07:00

Mark and Amy Starr invited a bunch of people over for a Christmas party... specifically, a White-Elephant-gift-exchanging, gingerbread-house-building, bad-sweater/hat-wearing, spaghetti-feed extravanganza. It was super! Super duper!

We augmented our bad sweaters with bifocals and baby-powedered hair....

Many great gifts were exchanged... and by great, I mean horrible...

It played a sickeningly cute, so-cute-it's-creepy version of "Jesus Loves Me"

A troll and a dinosaur

Algebraic Topology! So awesome!

Lindsey's redneck gingerbread house.... the front yard has an old car, a couch, and lots of little kids....

...and there's lots of junk piled behind the house.

Bad sweaters!

Christmas 2008

2009-01-04T02:04:00.004-07:00

First post of 2009!

We had an incredibly awesome Christmas break out in Oregon and California... It was really great to get to spend quality time with family and friends! Here are some random family photos from the trip...

First, a very white Christmas with Eva-Lynn's parents in McMinnville

Despite the unplowed roads and couple feet of chunky snow, we were determined to go to Christmas Eve service, so seven of us squeezed into the only vehicle available that could handle the roads - a Jeep Wrangler. It was quite cozy... (Sara is just to the left, on Tom's lap)

Yup, it's a huge ceramic mushroom. Long story.

Eva-Lynn's brother Tyler, flying his rad remote-controlled heli-plane-thing.

Christmas morning....

In keeping with the troll theme from Thanksgiving...

Then, all the Johnsons came down to Crescent City, to visit my parents for a few days....

"Muscle Milk"

Olive Garden date night!

The photographer is slacking

Not just Christmas presents... I also got a belated wedding present from my brother. That's ok, I got his birthday present to him six months late last year....

More to come....

Mirrors, and a Dog

2008-12-17T23:43:00.000-07:00

Best. Song. EVER.

2008-12-10T01:36:00.002-07:00

Seriously. Watch it, and your mind will be blown.

Major kudos to Ryan for passing it on!

McMinnville Experimentation

2008-12-07T22:08:00.005-07:00

More experimental shots with the new camera....

Attack of the Trolls

2008-12-05T14:31:00.000-07:00

I've been using the "Troll Face" on Val a lot lately... it involves scrunching your face up as much as possible, arching your eyebrows, and using an intimidating, gravelly troll growl. While we were all down at my parents' house for Thanksgiving, I managed to get everybody into it. Enjoy the Troll Family photo gallery....

Original Troll

Chipmunk Troll

Cranky Troll

In-your-FACE Troll

Crazy Troll

Scary Troll

The Trolls-in-law

Pouty Troll

Sour Troll

Squinty Troll

PS - for those who may not be familiar with all of the Trolls, I've included a handy reference guide for your convenience:

Original Troll - Me!
Chipmunk Troll - My lovely wife, Eva-Lynn (aka, "Val")
Cranky Troll - My dad, Eric
In-your-FACE Troll - My mom, Patty
Crazy Troll - Val's dad, Tom
Scary Troll - Val's mom, Sara
Pouty/Sour Troll - My grandma, "Mimi"
Squinty Troll - Our close family friend, Matt

Troll on!

Givethanksing!

2008-12-04T21:50:00.002-07:00

I don't have quite as many pictures of people as I do of random inanimate objects, because as I was taking pictures of everyone I started getting looks like these next four:

The Gopher Hunter. It should be an Animal Planet show.

A gripping book!

Ten minutes later....

Thanksgiving... and an early Christmas

2008-12-03T02:21:00.002-07:00

We got to go home over Thanksgiving break... Eva-Lynn and I had hoped to surprise both sets of parents by just showing up at their front door unexpectedly, but we ended up telling them all we were coming. Surprising people in that way is a lot harder than you'd think.... people have a nasty habit of making plans for their holidays. ;)

I also splurged while I was gone.... by buying myself a new digital SLR for Christmas/my birthday/my fun allowance for the next six months. :) It's so AWESOME!!! (A Canon EOS Rebel XSi, with 18-55mm and 55-250mm lenses.) Of course, I spent most of Thanksgiving break taking hundreds of photos. A random assortment if my first experimental shots can be found below. (Even more in Picasa.) I'll have some more Thanksgiving-y ones up soon. :)

Father-son bonding.... Dad also bought himself a nice DSLR camera body for Christmas/birthday/Fathers Day....

A visit to the grocery store...

(As you can see, my favorite new ability is cranking down the f-stop for a smaller depth of field.)

This is the "Why on earth are you taking so many pictures???" face.

My dad is crazy.... in a totally awesome way. And, believe it or not, quite sober.

If dogs could drive.

BIG dogs

We went mushroom-hunting on the golf course by the Johnsons' house...
That, however, is a golf ball.

Star Wars + Politics = Awesome

2008-11-21T11:20:00.000-07:00

Actually... I suppose I'd say Star Wars + Anything = Awesome....

Now it all makes sense!

At the Zoo

2008-11-16T19:56:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was Free Day at the Denver Zoo. Which, of course, we took advantage of, despite the fact that I probably should have been studying for the exam I had the next morning....

Not an owl... a short, stubby Tawny Frogmouth. Looks grumpy.

Alligator snapping turtle. 2-3 feet long, couple hundred pounds.

Komodo Dragon. Wipe your mouth, buddy.

Why are babies animals so cute?

Red Panda, 4 months old

We were totally blocking their sun... totally on purpose.

Not sure what I'm doing, but Val's getting hippo kiss. Maybe I'm mad that my wife left me for a hippo....

We also got to see an aye-aye, one of the only ones on display in a zoo anywhere.... it was too dark for me to get a picture, but here's some from google:

As for what I said about animal babies being cute... well, every rule has its exceptions.

Hey, look..... Art!

2008-11-12T14:22:00.008-07:00

In response to Lindsey 's return to blog-dom (two posts in two days!), I've posted my own latest attempt at abstract art:

Actually, no, I lied. It's not art... it's SCIENCE!!! (Again....) It's actually yesterday's lab results from my research project at school. My feeble attempts at art are strictly limited to music and photography. And really, I think I approach even those genres from much more of an "analytical" perspective than an artistic one....

The Loch Hike

2008-11-08T03:16:00.010-07:00

Another hike, another couple hundred pictures... Once again, the best 40-ish are online, and below are the best of the best:

A beaver-dam pond

Yeah, we're weird. Get used to it.

This is The Loch. I wonder if it has its own Monster....

There it is!!! Oh, wait... never mind.

This should be titled "The Circle of Life" or "Birth from Death," or something cheesy like that.

See Little Red Riding Hood?

Near the end of the hike, as we approached 11,000 feet, the trail was paved with a nice thick coating of ice. It was easier to abandon the trail and just scramble up the mountainside.

At the top!

This was a 10-mile hike... 5 miles out, 5 miles back. Due to some poor planning and plenty of side trips and photo stops, we still had to hike the 5 miles back.... and it was half an hour to sunset. That's The Loch down there, about a mile away.

Back at The Loch, close to sunset... meaning we hiked the remaining 4 miles at dusk and in the dark. Through the trees. Without flashlights or a moon. The stars were out by the time we made it back. Quite the adventure!

We stopped for hot chocolate and Battleship on the way back.

Guess who lost? ;-)

Accolades and Liposuction

2008-10-30T12:25:00.002-06:00

You'll note that I've trimmed the fat from my list of other folks' blogs... Anyone who hadn't posted in over a year was slashed from the list like a victim in a cheesy B-movie. Chad, Katie, Starrs, this means you. And Walker, you're in danger yourself... one post in the last 7 months? The only thing that saved you was the ultra-awesomeness of your last post. Let's see some art-project updates! Jenny gets a temporary pass, being newly-wed and all...

On the other hand, I feel that a few blogs deserve some sort of award, however meaningless, and thus I hereby nominate the following:

Ryan - Most Prolific (and incredibly great) Photographer
Jessica - Longest Posts (that's what happens when you live in a village in Namibia, and post a month's worth of blogs all at once...)
The Burnses - Best 9-Month Adventure (Baby Jake was born 10/28!!! Go see the pictures!)

First Snow

2008-10-24T11:13:00.007-06:00

Last weekend we went up to Rocky Mountain National Park for the first time. It was overcast and pretty chilly, but we wanted to catch the fall colors... and they were awesome. While we were hiking, it actually started snowing lightly, which made the scenery that much more picture-perfect. Of the hundreds of photos I took, the best sixty or so are in my online picasa album... here are the best of the best.

I didn't have my zoom camera that day (it's on the fritz), just my Pentax point-and-shoot... so the squirrel/chipmunk photos were taken the old-fashioned way... by sneaking up verrrry slowly...

Fall vs. Winter

Tagged 11th...

2008-10-18T18:24:00.010-06:00

I was tagged by Dane (who was tagged by Charissa, who was tagged by Ryan...). In this game of blog-tag, I'm supposed to post the 11th photo in my 11th album...

But, boringly, the 11th picture in my 11th album is one you've seen before...

This is from back when Eva-Lynn's mom was out here helping us fix up our new apartment (which I haven't really posted pictures of, have I? I'll add it to the to-do list...).

So I did like Charissa, and looked for the 11th photo in my 11th online Picasa album:

Not bad. It's from Beka's birthday party, at Amy's family's cabin on the Oregon coast. SUCH good times!!!

Out of curiosity, though, I dug deep into the photo folder on my backup hard drive -- the folder that has every pictures I've taken since I first got a digital camera (70,000 and counting...)...

Here's folder 11, photo 11. This is June 2002.... a month after I got my first digital camera as an early graduation present. There I am at the bottom... hair parted in the middle? I did that? Behind me, left to right, are Matt, grandmothers Nana and Mimi, great-aunt Bobbie, and Mom. And finally, little brother Kelly at the top... I think he might actually still be smaller than me back then. And appropriately enough, what am I doing? Showing everyone photos on the computer? Some things don't change....

Let's see... I'll tag Ginny.

We've got company!

2008-10-05T19:05:00.015-06:00

Many of you know Matt Hildbrandt, the fearless leader of the worship team at my church back home in Crescent City. He's nearing the end of a cross-country adventure that included Hurricane Ike in New Orleans, Disney World, a cruise to the Bahamas, Washington DC.... and last weekend, the highlight of his trip.... visiting the Lunds in Boulder!!! (Without a doubt, the highlight of any trip...)

(And now, a brief plug for HIS BLOG... it's awesome! It has cool pictures! Go check it out!!!)

We had a rad weekend with him - hanging out, showing him around Boulder, and, of course, getting him up to speed on this season of Heroes (he has good taste in television). On Saturday, we took him on a drive up Boulder Canyon and a quick hike to Boulder Falls... the waterfall is a few hundred yards up a rocky trail, but at this altitude, that's plenty to leave an un-acclimated, sea-level "flatlander" feeling light-headed. Of course, I was very gracious and understanding at all times (despite any spurious comments to the contrary you may read at Matt's blog....). :)

Sunday's highlight was a visit to our local mini-golf course, with plenty of photo ops:

(The last four photos may or may not have been rearranged, in order to conceal who actually ended up with their ball the water.... although the astute viewer may be able to draw some conclusions...)

Several King Kongs attacking a medieval castle...

Where's the fire?!??!!?

Things That Are AWESOME

2008-09-28T10:57:00.009-06:00

Eagle Eye - Went to see a free advanced showing on campus of Shia LaBeouf's latest movie, in this case an action/mystery/thriller.... SO awesome. And funny.

Destroyed in Seconds - a Discovery Channel show that brings you real video clips of things that were... well, you know. It's the most incredible show ever. Explosions, things being hit by trains, vehicle crashes, buildings toppling, bigger explosions... unspeakably awesome.

Our chairs - My grandma gave us an awesome set of walnut chairs & table, but the pink seat cushions were rather worn (besides being pink). Val re-covered them in a nice shade of awesome:

Hiking yesterday - Also very awesome.

We tried to take a nice shot of us, but it was getting towards sunset, which made the sunlight pretty darn bright...

South Dakota or Bust

2008-09-18T23:35:00.008-06:00

I've gotten started on sorting through the thousands (literally) of photos from this summer. I'm still planning on getting photos up from the wedding, Belize, our road trip, rock climbing, etc, etc.... but with such a monumental task, I had to get my feet wet with something a little less daunting.

And so, on this month-a-versary of my last post (and a full three months since one before that....), I give you...

SOUTH DAKOTA
The Mount Rushmore State

Yup, that's the official state nickname. They're really psyched about Mount Rushmore up there.

My wife and I wanted to take advantage of Labor Day, the last official school holiday before Thanksgiving, to get out of Boulder for the weekend. The "Mount Rushmore zone" of South Dakota, about six hours away, seemed like a fun weekend trip destination.

Presidential!

Of course, there's only so much time you can spend looking at a mountain-sized statue. And learning how it was made... and about the guy who made it... and how they picked the mountain... etc etc. A few hours, maybe, half a day tops, then we moved on...

...To another mountain-sized statue. This one, though, is still a work in progress. They've been working on it for over 60 years, and all they've got done is his face. Good work, fellas, keep it up.

We did get to see some blasting. Explosions are always good.

We also hit up a nearby Celtic Festival... missed the Highland games, but thankfully we were in time for the Scottish Knee Competition. Whitest, boniest knees win.

And what trip to South Dakota could be complete without a visit to historic DEADWOOD, town of colorful characters like Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, and Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy? (Who?)

What other town has "women of the night" in the windows?

Cowboy traffic cops?

Semi-cheesy re-enactments of the shooting of Wild Bill Hickok?

The site of the capture of the assassin Jack McCall who shot Wild Bill Hickok Aug 2, 1876??!?!

An actual angry mob eager for the lynching of said assassin?

Cheesy re-enactment of said trial????

Moving on... nearby Jewel Cave was fun:

DON'T TOUCH!!!

Just your typical bottomless chasm
(Actually, I believe I took this picture looking up...)

We also checked out a motorcycle museum in Sturgis.... the guy on the left is a 1911 model. Designed to be a racing bike, it had no brakes. Brakes are for wimps. And for people who are more concerned with intact limbs and a fully functioning brain than they are with winning.

There was also a bike that's only ever been ridden by President Bush. He also signed it, although it looks like Gw3e if you ask me. Mrs. Bush has better penmanship.

A restaurant we ate at had the actual house used in the Kevin Costner film Dances with Wolves...

...not to mention musical entertainment. Yeee-HAW!!!

Otherwise Occupied

2008-08-18T12:55:00.007-06:00

Hmmm.... two months to the day since my last post.... definitely been slacking in the blog department. Some stuff that I've been occupied with that I haven't blogged about (yet):

Moving to a different apartment in Boulder
Permanently joining a research group at CU
ManFest '08
GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!
Honeymooning in Belize
Wedding reception in Crescent City
Road-tripping to CO from CA
Grad school's Mega Test of Death

I'll get a post up "soon" (whatever that means)... until then, if you'd like, you can whet your appetite with photos from the wedding.... over 900 from the wedding photographer, and almost 40 from the ever-so-talented Dave Way. Bon appetit....

Photo shoot

2008-06-18T11:19:00.004-06:00

Eva-Lynn's cousin Erin (see saucybritches.com) lives in Denver, and a few weeks ago she came out to Boulder to see Eva-Lynn and her mom, while they were both out here visiting. She brought her camera and took some great shots of the three of us. It was great to get some fun photos of Eva-Lynn and I, without having to "set the timer and run," like usual. Thanks, Erin!!!

Marvin, Earl, and Ilsa

2008-06-08T19:15:00.013-06:00

I've been wanting a 4-wheel drive vehicle for quite a while, especially since I've moved out here to Colorado. Hiking, camping, even just driving around town during a snowstorm.... not so easy in "Marvin", my little 2000 Toyota Corolla. (I'll explain his name later.) The ridiculous price of gas has been holding me back, though; Marvin gets around 35 mpg or more, while 4-Runners (the gas-guzzlers I've had my eye on for a while) get around 20 mpg, if you're lucky.

In swoops my fair damsel to rescued me from distress. Eva-Lynn has a 2003 Honda Civic (recently dubbed "Ilsa") that she'll be bringing out with her in August. Since we'll have Ilsa for fuel economy, I figured I could finally trade Marvin in for something more... brawny (no offense, Marvin).

Val and I shopped around when she was out here over spring break, and we ended up snapping up an awesome deal on a 2000 Toyota 4-Runner. We decided to sell Marvin ourselves, rather than take the rather low trade-in value we were offered. I just got around to getting him cleaned up and put on craigslist this week; within three days, he was sold, for a full $1,300 above Kelley Blue Book value!

And so... goodbye Marvin, hello Earl.

Marvin. He was named from a movie line that I tended to shout when I was in a hurry: "Drive, Marvin! Drive like you've never driven before!"
(Props to anyone who can name the movie....)

Earl. Named after his color... he's halfway between silver and white, a shade technically known as "pearl." After we bought him, as we were thinking about names, Val's first suggestions were "Pearlie" and "Pearla".... I quickly and firmly vetoed both as being waaaaay to wussy for our macho mud-machine. (Although, admittedly, I've encountered very few "pearl"-colored macho mud machines....) Her next suggestion, Earl,
ended up sticking.

I have no pictures of Ilsa, but she's one sleek little hottie (just like her owner). She was actually unnamed until we got Earl, and we figured Val's car needed a name too. We'd recently watched Casablanca for the first time, and discovered that the heroine's name is Ilsa "Lund"! So the car is named after the subject of some of the most famous lines in movie history. Tweaked to fit our circumstances, we have:

Here's looking at you, car.
We'll always have Newberg.
Eva-Lynn, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Of all the Science Departments in all the colleges in all the world, she walks into mine.
Round up the usual used car salesmen.
Play it (again), Val. (In the movie, no one actually says "play it again, Sam.")

Marvin and Earl... friends for so brief a time. Meh, they would've been rivals for Ilsa's affection anyway. Just like the guys in Casablanca.

Memorial Day weekend

2008-05-28T03:53:00.000-06:00

I've reverted to my old ways... no blogs in over a month. But take heart, loyal fans; I have heard your cries (all two of them) for more posts, and here, at last, your thirst may be quenched.

This weekend I flew out to Washington to meet with Eva-Lynn and her pastor, who'll be uniting us in holy matrimony in a couple months (!!!!!). On Sunday after church, we drove over to the coast for the afternoon. I miss the ocean.... not much salt water in Colorado....

Hark, fair mermaid! Don't I get three wishes or something?

Kind of intimidating... "Don't mess with me, or I'll mess with your FACE!"

Umm.... not so intimidating.

We had a bit of set-the-timer-and-run photo fun with some railroad tracks we came across....

(This one took a lot of tries. Fortunately, no teeth were harmed in the making of this photo.)

...said one grad student to another.

2008-04-24T01:25:00.000-06:00

(see blog title)

Once again, PhD comics hits the nail on the head:

The Tax-Me-More Act

2008-04-20T17:20:00.000-06:00

Critical of tax cuts for high-income earners? Think the wealthy should be giving more money to the government? John Campbell has the answer!!!

California Republican John Campbell yesterday introduced in the House his "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is Act," which would amend the tax code to allow individuals to make voluntary donations to the federal government above their normal tax liability. The bill would place a new line on IRS tax forms to make this easy.

Mr. Campbell says he has heard the "cries" of those wealthy Americans – Mrs. Clinton, Warren Buffett, Barbra Streisand – who reject the lower tax rates passed in 2001 and 2003 and complain that they and their fellow rich don't pay enough. "It's a great injustice that citizens wishing to fulfill their dream of paying more taxes cannot simply check a box on their 1040 form to make a donation," he says. His bill would give liberals a chance to salve their consciences without having to raise taxes on millions of Americans who already feel overtaxed as it is.

Considering that the IRS already accepts donations, yet folks haven't exactly jumped at the opportunity, I'd guess this won't go over so well. Could it be that wealthy individuals feel that there are more effective, more efficient methods of aiding the poor, curing diseases, and improving society than via Uncle Sam's vast bureaucracy? Hmmm....

Expelled

2008-04-19T00:09:00.000-06:00

Tonight I went to see Expelled, a documentary by Ben Stein, the economist and Nixon speechwriter... who you probably know much better as the deadpan teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. ("Anyone...? Anyone....?")

(Make sure to play the trailer all the way to the end... one of the best lines is in the last two seconds of the clip.)

It raises a lot of thought-provoking issues, and is actually really funny. Even if you don't agree with everything it says, it'll definitely be a conversation starter... which is one of the main points of the film: that this sort of stuff should be talked about, not ignored or suppressed.

Check it out.

Speaking of medical mysteries....

2008-04-18T03:59:00.000-06:00

I saw this clip on YouTube a few months ago about the "Tree Man of Java" (superpowers sold separately):

For those with slow connections (or for those who need motivation to wait for the video to load), here's a shot of his "hands":

I ran into a recent article about his condition (a random combination of the HPV virus plus an incredibly rare genetic immune disorder) and the treatment he's been getting... which led me to an article on the man without a face....

....which, in turn, led to an article about a girl with two faces....

...which, logically, pointed me to an article about an 11-pound, 23-inch-tall 15-year-old. Here, she's pictured with a 13-month old, and her classmates:

It's interesting to note the role of religion in some of these stories. The guy with the facial tumor has firmly refused medical treatment until recently, since (until recently) the medical procedures involved would have required a blood transfusion, something he won't consider as a staunch Jehovah's Witness. Meanwhile, the girl is being hailed as a reincarnation of the Hindu god Ganesha. Her parents certainly don't mind... everyone who comes to pay their respects to the baby include a nice monetary gift.

More medical freakiness.... have you heard these news reports about the pregnant "man" from Oregon? That'll have to be a post for another day....

I'm just one big medical mystery

2008-04-14T06:01:00.000-06:00

I think if you were to compare the number of cans of Dr. Pepper I drank this weekend to the number of hours I've slept, Dr. Pepper would win. In fact, I'm pretty sure I ate more oreos than the hours I slept this weekend, too.

How have I never had a cavity?

For that matter, why am I not 30 lbs overweight?

(Happy thought: Just 19.5 days left until the end of Semester Two of grad school. I finish my last exam at 5PM on Saturday. Yup, a final on Saturday... lame, eh? Let's see, that's just 468 hours from now.... and counting...)

Moose, Yaks, White Rhinos... whatever.

2008-04-09T23:33:00.001-06:00

As my dad pointed out, he didn't give me Moose Tracks for Christmas. Moose Tracks is an ice cream flavor:

He did, in fact, give me a pair of YAK Trax.... not nearly as creamy and delicious, but slightly more helpful in slippery conditions:

Either way, thanks, Dad. You can send me Yak Trax or Moose Tracks any time you want.

News Flash:

2008-04-08T23:16:00.000-06:00

"Money doesn't buy happiness."

Thank you, Reuters. Your insight is astonishing.

Spring Break!

2008-04-05T18:21:00.000-06:00

My honey came and visited me over spring break.... Between tux fittings, gift registering, house-hunting, and budget-making, we still had a chance to get out and enjoy some fresh Colorado air, starting with some miniature golf:

The course had a "Colorado Journey" theme... ranging from the Garden of the Gods (above), to the Eisenhower Tunnel:

At the time, we thought it was a cave. Ergo, we're cavemen.

And, for some reason, bodybuilders.

Later in the week, we went hiking in the Flatirons outside of Boulder, to one of the "summits" in this series of mini-peaks.

That's as far as I could make it after setting the camera timer...

Dad gave me "Moose Tracks" for Christmas (basically, tire chains for your shoes), and I finally got to put them to use (the trail was pretty icy in spots)... we had just one pair, though, so we each only got one.

Hey! Look what I found in the forest!!!

We also took some "official" engagement photos for invitations and such... I'd set the camera timer, run over, and try to look natural...

...often unsuccessfully.

Kitchen glamor shots turned out better.

Hoping for a better background, we stopped at a nearby park, and I continued the set-timer-and-run routine, resulting in a series of very awkward shots.

The Prom Pose.

The Hunchback Boyfriend.

The awkward elbow-squeeze.

The Fiendish Smile shot.

And, finally, something a little more acceptable. :)

I guess Mendel knew what he was talking about...

2008-03-23T21:33:00.003-06:00

My dad, many many (many) years ago.

My brother, last week.

Along with his manly good looks (and hairstyle preferences), Kelly has managed to acquire the best of Dad's leftover 70's clothes from Dad's well-stocked (and well-preserved) closet...

Which just leaves 212 more to go...

2008-03-21T17:18:00.000-06:00

Bring 'em on.

2008-03-20T22:58:00.000-06:00

Wow...

2008-03-13T03:37:00.001-06:00

"Keep a Hammer in your Closet"

2008-03-12T02:54:00.000-06:00

Granny Trapped In Closet Breaks Hole Through Wall To Escape

Woman Trapped For More Than 20 Hours

DENTON, N.C. -- A Davidson County woman, trapped in a closet for more than 20 hours, smashed a hole through a wall in desperation to finally escape. Susan Mitchell, of Denton, said she was scared when television stations in the area began broadcasting tornado watches and warnings during Tuesday's severe storms. Mitchell said she grabbed her cats and took cover in a closet.

"I fell asleep and I woke up and I wanted to get out and I couldn't get out," she said. Apparently, in her rush for safety she forgot the closet door locked from the outside. Mitchell said she tried to break down the door, but it was too strong. Then she slipped a note under the door that read "Help, I'm trapped in the closet since Tuesday night. 12 a.m.", hoping someone searching for her might find it.

Mitchell said she began to grow frantic after 20 hours passed with no food, water, or medicine for her diabetes. "I was just like 'oh please God let me out. I can't stand to be in here any longer,'" she said. That's when, in desperation, Mitchell, who works out at a gym three days a week, said she decided to smash a hole through the wall.

The force of her swings made a hole a little more than a foot wide. "I threw another blanket out there on the floor and pillow and squeezed through," she said smiling. "Not bad for a grandma." Mitchell was not injured during the ordeal but did offer advice to anyone who might find themselves in her predicament.

"So I say to everybody 'keep a hammer in your closet, tie your cell phone around your neck, and be in shape,'" she said.

More Facts of Life

2008-03-09T00:56:00.000-07:00

1) YouTube videos are more interesting than biochemical research articles.

2) Whose Line Is It Anyway is a really, really funny show. (See here, here, here, here, or here...etc.)

3) Siamese ("conjoined") twins are totally rad people. Meet Abby and Brittany:

See also a video of them when they were younger, or another set of conjoined twins...

Involuntary Loss of Consciousness

2008-02-26T02:35:00.000-07:00

This is me right now:

(I'm currently between frames 3 and 4... procrastinating via blogging.)

Later on, once I wake up from frame 4, this will be my thought process (I seriously do this all the time):

Doesn't everyone?

2008-02-20T21:04:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow: Typhoons? Sandstorms?

2008-02-15T01:10:00.001-07:00

Yesterday: A high of 68 degress... people walking around in shorts and flip-flops...

Today: A high of 24 degrees, and 8 inches of fresh snow on the ground.

Gotta love Colorado weather. I do, anyway.

Making the Grade

2008-02-13T21:13:00.000-07:00

This is me tonight. (And last night, and the night before....)

IVGCF Winter Retreat

2008-02-11T17:20:00.001-07:00

Good friends, good talks, good games... good times.

PS - For everyone back home, IVGCF = InterVarsity Graduate

Christian Fellowship. :)

To anyone who's interested... you can download the full-size originals of all these photos (and several more) here .

Three "Firsts"

2008-02-08T22:17:00.001-07:00

Three all-time, personal firsts:

1) I pulled three all-nighters this week... Sunday night, Tuesday night, Thursday night. I don't remember ever pulling that many in a week before, even at Fox. It was a busy week. And good time management isn't exactly one of my strengths. Pulling off good projects at the last second might become one of my strengths, at this rate...

2) One of the all-nighters was on campus at CU, in my research lab... before that, they had always been in the comfort of my own apartment, with food and shower readily available. Instead, I was physically in the chemistry building for two solid days, Thursday morning to Friday night... and boy, it's no Hilton. There's not a single couch or carpeted surface in the whole place. I know, I looked.

3) Three blog posts in three days? Unheard of!!! I'm more of a once-every-ten-days sort of a blogger.

Come to think of it, pulling off three records in a week is something of a record in itself... does that make four?

What dogs are really thinking

2008-02-07T18:24:00.001-07:00

(click to make it a little bigger...)

Science Marches On

2008-02-06T01:56:00.000-07:00

I think most everyone would agree that we've come pretty far in the last several hundred years. We geniuses of the 21st century are aware that the earth's not flat. We realize that diseases are caused by invisible little creatures that live pretty much everywhere. I'm especially glad that we don't have to visit the local barber to get our infected tooth brutally ripped from our jaw without anesthetic. It even seems that we're finally getting around to developing a working jetpack... or, the German miltary is, at least:

But every so often we are reminded that we aren't totally on top of things yet. For example, it turns out that migrating birds seem to have the equivalent of a GPS unit in their brain... and we don't really have a clue how it works. Go us.

Speaking of brains, researchers recently were poking around in an obese man's head with electrodes, hoping to find the part of the brain that would suppress his appetite. (Is brain surgery really that trivial now, that we're using it to treat overeating?) When they zapped a particular spot in his brain, he found himself remembering a scene from thirty years prior. If they ramped up the juice, he would recall more intricate details, right down to what people were wearing. Turn off the power, though, and the memories would fade. They're hoping to use the technique to treat Alzheimer's patients. I predict that one day, grateful husbands everywhere will be using it to remember anniversaries, and their wives' birthdays....

Oh, by the way, we can talk to apes. It turns out they like candy as much as obese-brain-surgery-guy.

March, science, march...

Will You Marry Me???

2008-01-29T04:14:00.000-07:00

Eva-Lynn (squealing with glee, wiping away tears): "YES!!!!!!"

That pretty much sums up the basics.

Read on if you're interested in (cue Paul Harvey) the rest of the story....

This weekend, totally unknown to Eva-Lynn, I flew out to Portland to pop the Big Question. Bear with me for a second.... for the proposal to make much sense, you'll need a super-quick intro to how we met....

Eva-Lynn and I had been in a couple classes together, but we really started to get to know each other in the fall of '06, while we were both working for the Science Outreach program at GFU. One of the main things I did was take the StarLab around to local elementary schools. The StarLab is a huge, inflatable planetarium that I would set up in the school gymnasium and give astronomy presentations in.

So... not only was the StarLab one of the main ways Val and I got to know each other, but it is clearly the ultimate romantic proposal spot for two science nerds such as ourselves. (Sparkling artificial stars, slowly spinning across an inky-black nylon sky...)

Saturday morning, with the help of many people (tons of thanks to Dwight Kimberly, the Starrs, the Shuckerows, and Eva-Lynn's parents!!!), I was able to pick up the StarLab and get it set up at Eva-Lynn's mom's school (her mom is an elementary school principal).

Her parents lured her there on some pretense... and as she walked into the room, she stopped, got very confused, then blushed bright red as she realized what might be going on. Her reaction as she crawled in and heard "our song" is priceless:

.....aaaaand, that's about enough. The rest is private. ;)

As you can see, I had a bottle of sparkling cider, and also a couple wineglasses... but no bottle opener. Oops.

She even helped clean up after her own proposal. What a girl!

Me, bagging myself a wife.

Us watching the video that's posted above... she liked it. :)

We spent the rest of the day revisiting many of the places we went on our first few dates. For example, Date #2 was a visit to OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry...

...aka, "Nerd Heaven."

On Date #2, we also saw Superman Returns at the Omnimax. Here, Val superbly transforms the Ocean Film Festival poster into something much more... Super.

At Powells (a massive bookstore in Portland), Val bought a Christian romance novel entitled A Bride Most Begrudging. I purchased a book with the much more creative title GENOME.

For my birthday last year, Val and her parents gave me tickets to the Treasures of Ancient Egypt display at the Portland Art Museum.... and then she came down with a migraine at the last minute. Since the tickets were non-refundable and non-exchangeable (lame!), we went in anyway... and she ended up running to the bathroom to puke about eight times. To make it up to her, I got us tickets to the 3D Center of Art and Photography. It was actually pretty cool... and I'm pretty sure the $7.00 I spent was nearly equivalent to whatever the other tickets cost. :)

Enjoying some Thai sweet tea at the Bangkok Palace.... "Notice anything different about me?"

"On my hand??? On my FINGER?!!??!"

Both halves of the ring were actually her great-grandmother's... the engagement ring section can be linked to its matching wedding band. If you think that the finger looks unusually hairy for a girl, it's because it's actually my left pinky.

The finale of the evening was a visit to the Rose Garden stadium... where our very first date had been. When I decided to fly home and propose this weekend, I checked who was playing that evening... and it turned out to be the Blue Man Group!!!! SO awesome! Their show was absolutely spectacular:

If you look at the bottom left and right, you can see a couple of the Blue Men pounding away on some drums, resulting in sprays of what looked like colored paint (but what we decided was probably just lit-up water). Anyway, it was incredibly awesome, and also very funny.

Our best imitation of a photo we took....

....the last time we were there at a concert, on our first date. Man, we were a lot less pasty-white in mid-fall than we are in mid-winter...

And, finally, we grabbed Frosties on the way home, in honor of the time we got free ones by showing up at the Wendy's drive-through right at closing time. Sometimes the best things in life are free....

And that's our story.... hope you enjoyed it! There are a bunch more photos here, if you want to check them out. Sorry this all wasn't posted sooner... the only downside to spending a spectacular weekend with a the coolest girl on earth is that when you get back, you still have to do all the homework that you should have been doing all weekend. ;)

Google-tastic

2008-01-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

The other day, in the spirit of procrastination, I googled myself. Jackpot. Try it yourself... type in Travis Lund.

The first link is a photo of me. It's amazing.

The second link is this blog. Pretty nifty.

The third link, if you don't use quotation marks (just type Travis Lund, not "Travis Lund"), is not me, but it is another Travis J. Lund.

The fourth link is an article about my chemistry research. Also nifty.

After that, there's a lot of not-me links. I've never been a boxer, cross-country runner, hunting dog trainer, sailing instructor, Chief Building Officer, or drummer/guitarist/mandolinist for the band Karmic Whiplash. I did find some more gems, though... some more chemistry stuff, and another classic photo:

Taken for the chem majors wall at Fox, shortly after the 70's Dance.

Apparently there's a town in Texas named Lund... which happens to be located in Travis County. I plan to visit someday, just to take pictures with the signs.

In the church world, there's also the Lund Principle. According to wikipedia, it affirms that churches should act together in all matters, unless deep differences of conviction compel them to act separately. Sounds like a good plan... "Let's work together, unless we don't get along."

Then, of course, there's Lund University in Lund, Sweden; Lund Boats; Lund car and truck accessories, etc, etc...

Enough procrastination. Back to homework. (Sigh.)

Facts of Life

2008-01-21T23:38:00.000-07:00

Fact: I am a very bad blogger. Or a very sporadic blogger, at least. Almost three weeks since the last post? Ouch.

Fact: It's 2 degrees outside right now. The high today was 14, and the overnight low is -2. That's pretty darn cold. Especially when you have to walk home from lab at midnight because you missed the last bus.

Sad Fact: I have a season pass for a ski mountain that's only 30 minutes away, and I haven't gone once yet. Soon, I keep telling myself.

Depressing Fact: I need to buy snow tires for my car. Snow tires are expensive... but my bald street tires just aren't cutting it.

My snow-covered deck.

My snow-covered street.

A random cellphone photo I took a couple months ago, back when there were still leaves.

Fern Canyon... and a headless Babe

2008-01-02T17:16:00.000-07:00

During a break in our wonderfully soggy Northwest weather, Eva-Lynn and I went for a hike at Fern Canyon... and I took pictures.

On the way down, we passed Paul Bunyan... and what remained of Babe. Apparently, during a particularly bad storm, his head sprung a leak, filled with rainwater, and fell off. Luckily no one was posing underneath it for a family photo at the time.

Done!!

2007-12-19T22:27:00.000-07:00

I finished my take-home biochem final today... I've pretty much been working on it the last two days straight. Once again, a PhD comic pretty much sums things up...

That was totally me and Eva-Lynn over the last two days.

Anyhow, I'm actually done with a whole semester of grad school. Wow. Time to really enjoy Christmas break, now.

Speaking of which... Mark and Amy's wedding this weekend was spectacular!!! It was so great to see everyone again. I'll post some photos when I get my hands on some... I'm ashamed to say I only took a dozen photos over the weekend. This coming from the compulsive photography addict who usually takes hundreds of photos of any particular event. I was running around pretty frantically most of the time with best-man duties... but still. Shameful.

PhD... "Piled Higher and Deeper"

2007-12-10T22:45:00.000-07:00

I came across this comic strip, "PhD," recently. It totally sums up life in grad school... it always leaves you (or me, at least) thinking, "That's SO true!!!!"

For example, I think many of us have been in this situation before (it happens to me about once a week):

One typical grad school event is the "group meeting"... each week your whole lab group gets together and someone gives an update on how their research is going. Then everyone tells them what they're doing wrong. It's often very painful. (As always, you can click on the image to make it bigger... sorry they're so small on here.)

I have definitely been the the first student on the left (twice now, all-nighters both times), and I am almost always the third student from the left (totally lost). I also often find myself thinking like the second and fourth students. I've never been the fifth student, because I always know exactly when and where there will be free food.

Finally, anyone who has lived with me will understand this one:

Instead of "going to bed," about a third of the time I fall asleep on the couch in my apartment, with the lights on, music playing, and papers spread around me. One time I slept all night with my laptop balanced on my chest.

Winter Wonderland Wanderings

2007-12-08T20:02:00.000-07:00

I had to run an errand across campus yesterday. It was snowing, only the second time since I've been out here in Boulder, and everything was nicely frosted in crystalline awesomeness. Here at the 30,000-student University of Colorado, "across campus" is a lot farther than it was at Fox, especially if you don't know where you're going. The trip gave me plenty of snow-coated objects to admire, and my new cell phone has a pretty decent camera in it, so I started snapping photos.

The chemistry building. I pretty much live here.

Brrr.

I've been riding my bike to campus, but I wimp out when it's actually snowing. Other people are more dedicated. Our first-year Biochem Core course professor, for example. Occasionally he shows up at the last minute to teach our morning lecture -- wearing skin-tight, spandex bike pants. Sometimes he even grabs a button-up shirt and tucks it into the bike pants. I kid you not. Welcome to grad school... it's a whole new world in here.

Gettin' Hitched

2007-05-31T23:43:00.002-06:00

At last.... the Great Blog Famine of May 2007 has passed. Pat's wedding prompted me to action. That's right... allow me to introduce you all to Patrick and Katherine Shuckerow:

They're going to have some beautiful Korean/Irish/Russian babies, don't you agree??

Our own Mr. Shuckerow has officially left the Beebe/Gulley Brotherhood for the greener pastures of wedded bliss. He shall be missed. But we didn't let him go without one last man-hug...

The Beebe/Gulley guys, minus Grant, Father Dane, and Teacher Ryan ("Lyon")

And, of course, no wedding would be complete without some groovin' moves...

....an epic battle or two (that's me in the tux vest)....

...and a few familiar, friendly, fresh, freakishly fabulous faces.

Speaking of weddings.... Grant did some Hitching of his own a few weeks back. A few of us were able to road-trip it up for the big day.

Grant and Brittney got married in this old mansion that we're pretty sure must be haunted. We went wandering in the bowels of the building.... and we lost Mark when Dave got a little exited with an executioner's axe.

Enjoying a round of Uno Splash at Dave's house

That's not all, folks... click here, if you dare, for more photos from two very radical weddings.

PS -- For those still waiting patiently for more Honduras awesomeness.... fear not. Good things come to those who wait.....

Far Out

2007-04-25T19:26:00.000-06:00

Q: What do Martha Stewart, space tourism, and Microsoft Word have in common?
A: More that you think.

Sometimes we make fun of movies for being too ridiculous and far-fetched.... what about when real life is too weird to take seriously?

Introducing Charles Simonyi, former Microsoft employee, and ¨chief architect¨ of MS Word and Excel. Recently Charles paid over $20 million to ride shotgun on a Russion rocket to the International Space Station. That makes him Space Tourist #5, and the self-proclaimed First Nerd in Space. He spent almost two weeks in space, documenting his trip with blog entries, photos, and vidoes, on his website charlesinspace.com.

The Russian cosmonauts he rode up with have awesome names like Oleg Kotov and Fyodor Yurchikhin (pronounced exactly like ¨your chicken¨). In one video on the website, they are asked how Charles performed during the flight up. In an incredibly thick, almost cartoon-like Russian accent, Dr. Your-Chicken responded, ¨Yes, ov course Charlez iz not professional cosmonut…. but ve dunt hav anny problem vis Charles. For us he iz vun ov crew member.¨ (Translation: ¨we don´t have any problem...¨ he´s ¨one of crew member.¨) Classic. If it were in a movie, we´d complain it was too corny.

And the icing on the cake... in Kazakhstan on launch day to see Charles off was none other than Charles´s ¨good friend¨ Martha Stewart. There was talk that Charles might be proposing from space. Yeah. Very, very weird.

PS -- Don´t worry, I´m not done posting about Honduras yet. Check back soon...

It´s a Small World After All

2007-04-21T20:36:00.000-06:00

Sorry about the major lack of blogs over the past week or so…. this was my last week at the hospital, so things have been a bit hectic. And last weekend I was away, making a quick trip to the island of Utila… more on that once I’ve had a chance to go through the 500 or more pictures I took over the weekend (I tend to get a little carried away).

In the meantime, here are some more Little Things that caught my attention in the last few weeks…

There are some awesome metallic-looking beetles and wasps around here. Very cool.

This big moth practically smacked me in the face the other night while I was reading in bed… I was annoyed at it, until it landed and I realized how awesome it looked.

Not only did it have awesome colors (for a moth, I guess), but it didn’t fold its wings back like a normal moth…. it would just sit there with them flared in crazy directions.

Personally, I think it might be a mutant super-moth… I wonder if it’s an honorable crime fighter, or an evil monster dedicated to death and destruction….

This guy is definitely an evil monster dedicated to death and destruction.

Speaking of death and destruction..... This huge swath of army ants marched out of the jungle past the staff housing building the other day. They apparently were out for a day of pillaging and plundering, because that afternoon they came marching back past the building into the jungle, carrying lots of ants and ant eggs and various other dead bugs…. the spoils of victory.

These guys were pretty vicious… I stuck a blade of grass down at the line to see what would happen, and a couple of ants went completely nuts, biting and stinging the end of it… after that I was very careful as I stuck my camera inches away from them.

Apparently sometimes the huge swath of ants goes right through the staff housing building… there’s not a lot you can do when a thick line of thousands of ants come marching across the floor and up the wall. Just hide the food. And the babies… wouldn’t want them to get carried off.

I haven’t had a chance to figure out how to post a video right into the blog, but click here if you want to see a clip Jesse took of the sidewalk literally covered in a moving carpet of ants…

Just remember... they´re more afraid of you than you are of them.

Happy (Belated) Easter!

2007-04-12T23:59:00.000-06:00

Last week (the week leading up to Easter) was "Semana Santa" here in Honduras.... Holy Week. Sort of. It's called Holy Week, but it's not particularly holy.... it's more like Party-on-the-Beach Week. The secular culture just enjoys a week off, basically ignoring the Jesus-dying-for-our-sins part. You know, the whole point of the holiday. Not that we're any better... be honest, what do you spend more time thinking about during the Christmas season: God or gift lists?

Anyhow, the local church I've been going to with the Harmons held a special "event" down on the beach during Semana Santa. Proper attire for church down here is long pants (for guys) and skirts (for girls), and we assumed that those rules applied for the special service as well. What we didn't realize was that the "service" was more of a church picnic.

So we showed up in our Sunday best...

... only to discover a rollicking....

...frolicking....

...Honduran beach barbecue in progress.

We didn't exactly blend in. ;)

Despite being slightly over-dressed, we still had an awesome afternoon. I made sure to partake of the four basic F's: food, fun, fellowship, and Fotography.

Honduran worship, unplugged.

Steaks, anyone?

Then, on Easter Sunday, the missionary community held a sunrise service down on the beach. Unfortunately, the sun rises at 5:30. That's very, very early.

Mmmmm.....

Living in Harmon-y

2007-04-09T23:26:00.000-06:00

And now, for a long-overdue introduction.... (drum roll, please).... I give you... the Harmons!!! (cue trumpet fanfare). And, as an added bonus, you get to meet Grandma, who happened to be visiting for a week when this photo was taken.

From the left: Patty 1 (Tom's wife), Patty 2 (Tom's mom), Tom, Jesse, Peter

For those who don't know, the Harmons are a family from my church who are living down here in Honduras for several months. Tom is working in the hospital as an anesthetist:

... while Jesse and Peter get to spend a semester doing school in the jungle:

Patty and the kids have also gotten involved in various outreach ministries and hospital projects, including using a lensometer (no, I didn't make that up) to sort over 3,000 pairs of glasses for the eye clinic...

The Harmons are basically my adopted family down here. I live in the same building as them, I get rides with them to local churches and missionary get-togethers, I send my grocery list with them when they into town to go shopping, usually I eat dinner with them anyway... they even take me on some of their adventures. The other day we went on a quest across the Honduran countryside for the legendary Bambu Waterfall....

Our romp to get there took us through several little villages, a few river crossings, and many miles of muddy, potholed roads.

Tom plots his course... at one point water actually washed over the hood of the truck. Way cool.

Have burro, will travel.

Interestingly, there didn't seem to be any bamboo anywhere near the Bamboo Waterfall, nor have I seen any in Honduras. The nearest village was named El Bambu, though.... what's up with that? Crazy Hondurans.

We youngsters went for a dip... as you can see, this was before the tragic demise of the waterproof camera.

Sorry, ladies.... he's unavailable. ;)

It's a Small World

2007-04-06T14:44:00.000-06:00

(Note: as always, feel free to click on the photo to zoom in for a closer look... you could even go to the online album and watch the almost-full-screen slideshow....)

There are tons of geckos around here, scampering around and making weird bird-like chirping noises. They usually scatter whenever you flip on a light. I cornered this one on a windowsill.... I think he was distracted, admiring his reflection.

I managed to blind him with a flashlight long enough to get a mug shot. Incidentally, I haven't yet tried shooting one with a rubber band to see if it drops its tail, as Ryan alleges.

Jungle mushroom

As I sit in bed reading at the end of the night, my light tends to attract whatever bugs are in the room. I've started keeping a shoe and a camera handy... some bugs get squashed, others get "shot."

I let this guy live. Mosquitos receive no such mercy.

Check out this gal's hairy legs... she could definitely use a shave. And a diet, too... that little spider on the top left is around normal size, so the big spider is almost as big as your hand.

This little thing is stuck to the metal rail outside my room. It's the size of a pea, maybe a little smaller. Who made it? How? What lives inside? Some deadly, previously undiscovered creature from the depths of the jungle? A midget genie for pottery-lovers?

Espanol, y Muchachos

2007-04-04T23:14:00.000-06:00

It's a bit depressing how much my Spanish degraded in just nine months. It's finally getting back up to the level it was last September, after 3 1/2 months of backpacking around South America. I'm adding a whole new set of vocabulary, too... church words. Fortunately, most are either common words anyway (el amor del Padre) or ones that you can figure out pretty easily ("gracia" and "justicia"). A few, though, are a bit wild.... I was pretty lost during one particular Bible study until I figured out that "orgullo" is pride, and that "misericordia" means mercy, not "misery cords."

I've also started introducing myself differently. There's no Spanish equivalent for "Travis," so I had just been pronouncing it in a Spanish way (traah-veees). I discovered, though, that the closest Spanish word to my name is travieso.... roughly translated, "mischievous." I thought that it fit, so I've basically been introducing myself by saying "Hello, I am Mischievous." Helps people remember me.

More fun spanish phrases...

Todo azul -- literally, "all blue." Means everything's going well. Sort of like saying "you're good to go" or "you're golden."
Sacando las uñas -- "cutting your fingernails." Someone translated it as meaning "coming alive"... kind of makes me think of "letting your hair down."
My personal favorite.... super-bien. Super good. Self explanatory.

Here are a few more photos of the little muchachos from the wedding.... I'm still intrigued by the different kinds of names these kids have, ranging from the expected -- Juan, Lucio, Ana -- to the bizarre -- Endo, Howard, Guildy (gwill-dee), Lo-urnes, Argentina, Oscar, Orbin...

Gettin' Hitched

2007-03-29T23:55:00.000-06:00

Last weekend, besides my camera-killing excursion, I also got to participate in a local Honduran wedding. Yup... participate. They wanted music. Specifically, the Bridal Chorus.... you know... "Here comes the bride..." I've been helping out musically a few different ways lately, and someone asked if I'd be willing and able to play at this wedding. I definitely couldn't pass up a gig like this....

The "church" is a little thatched-roof, dirt-floor hut in a nearby community.... you can see the neighborhood water pump out front. The plan was to string a very long extension cord over from a nearby home and use a keyboard for the music. Unfortunately, that Sunday, the power went out in the whole area for most of the day, which apparently is a fairly normal occurrence. The hospital's got a backup generator, but our ideas for keyboard accompaniment were shot. Time to improvise...

There were some guitars on hand, so a missionary nurse name Norma and I worked out a quick duet. She strummed the chords, I plunked out the melody... nothing fancy, but it was a special touch for the locals (remember that boisterous church service... their musical expectations aren't particularly high). Incidentally, we worked out our little masterpiece at around 4:30, and the wedding was scheduled for 4:00. In Honduras -- and pretty much every undeveloped country, from what I understand -- you learn to expect things to happen on "local time." Things pretty much just happen when they get around to happening.

Also, this wedding was BYOC.... bring your own chair.

Since Norma and I were helping out with the music throughout the service, we quite literally had front-row seats.... the photographer in me rejoiced...

The wedding is actually an excellent example of how the hospital is positively impacting the area. In the surrounding poor communities, weddings are very rare..... people just hook up, start living together, have kids (often not in that order), without ever "bothering" to tie the knot. Missionaries are able to form relationships with the locals in various ways -- during doctor visits, by employing them in the hospital or at home, or by participating in their local churches and schools. They present the gospel, discourage immoral behavior, and help organize things like this wedding.

You may have noticed the range of people at the wedding, from the girl in pink on the left to the old lady looking through the screen on the right..... Honduras has a spectacular blend of ethic groups. You've got "ladinos" (or mestizos), the descendents of Spanish explorers and the indigenous peoples they encountered. There are indigenous tribes, including the direct descendants of the ziggurat-building Mayans. There's even a small white population descended from British pirates. Around here, though, a huge chunk of people are Garifunas. [Warning: ultra-quick history lesson approaching....] Also known as the Black Caribs, the Garifunas arose in the 1600s when escaped black slaves mixed with Caribbean islanders. (Those islanders were actually a mix of warrior Caribs from the Central American mainland and poison-dart-shooting Arawaks who migrated to the Caribbean from Brazil.... but that's another story.) Anyhow, these Arawak/Carib/African folks call themselves Garifuna. After getting deported from their islands near the end of the 1700s by European settlers, they settled along the Caribbean coasts of Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize.

Fun fact: In 2005 The National Garifuna Council of Belize sent a letter to Disney about its upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean sequel.... they objected to the depiction of their ancestors as cannibals, since there's no evidence that the Caribs regularly ate humans. You might say that Disney was "disinclined to acquiesce to their request."

I made a few friends at the wedding... I believe these guys' names were Jorge, Endo, and Orbin.

PS -- I've got some more photos of the wedding online, if you want to check them out.... click here to open the photo album.