March Madness Group Photos!!!

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

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!

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

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?

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

.... 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....