Back in October, Lexi had her first band concert. She is the way back, but she is there.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Dobson High School Fall 2010 Dance Concert
Lindsey had her first dance concert at Dobson back in November.
Monday, October 11, 2010
It was a stormy, dark week...
...but it did get better in the end.
On Saturday (10/2) we still had a high temperature above 100, but we were told things were going to change. On Monday, the storms started to roll through and Lindsey got soaked on the way home from school.
The real storms hit on Tuesday. While Steven was at the Downtown Campus, they were hit by a wind storm that was knocking over trees. Meanwhile Dawn was at home watching pea size hail pile up in the yard. Storms kept pounding Mesa and Dawn saw rain fall hard enough that she could not see the house behind our and watched our street flood. The storms kept coming. Dobson High School delayed releasing students at the end of the school day because of a Tornado Warning and the trees that were falling down all over the neighborhood justified that decision. While we had no damage, there were many streets in our neighborhood with tree branches and even whole trees in them. Steven left the Downtown Campus on the campus shuttle back to Tempe only to get caught in a hail storm in Downtown Phoenix. Fortunately, he clouds parted and Steven biked home from Tempe under blue skies.
But what Steven saw an the way home was stunning. While there was some minor flooding in Tempe, there was little if any damage. However, as he was pedaling on the bike path less than a mile from home, he came across a stretch of destruction. For a half mile the 30 to 40 foot tall power poles had all fallen and almost everyone of them hit a house. All of the houses in between were draped in high tension power lines. The only thing that stopped the dominoes was the fact that there were metal poles along the line that held.
As of today (10/11), all of the poles have been cleared away and new metal poles have been put in place. Judging from how the equipment was setup, they will begin stringing up new power lines tomorrow. Since the storms, until today, the high temperatures have stay below 90 degrees.
The day after the storm brought more darkness.
Steven's office was moved earlier in the Summer from the Tempe Campus to the new SkySong "innovation center" that the University created in Scottsdale. Steven biked to work as usual, but when he left earlier to go to Lexi's band concert (to be featured in a future post), he found his bike lock cut and the bike stolen. What makes things even worse is that there was an incident two weeks earlier where the headlight was stolen off the bike and the building security team promised to keep an eye out. The bike that was stolen was the one Steven bought when he arrived in Arizona, a mountain bike that had been converted into a commuter bike. He had stopped riding his old red road bike due to the back wheel being bent, but Dawn was able to call around and managed to get it repaired by Friday evening.
Having a bike on Saturday morning was a big deal, it was the annual Tour de Fat that is run by the New Belgium Brewery in honor of their beer Fat Tire. The Brewery does a lot of work supporting cyclist and as the MC said "We are not anti-car, just pro bike." A great feature of the festival is the "parade" of bikes through the streets of Tempe by thousands of riders, many that are costumed. The girls were very excited that we were able to ride despite all of the drama of the week.
Talking about the drama, I (Steven) is very happy that Dawn was able to get the bike repaired. It was not in the budget, but she figured out what to do in getting the bike repaired and made it happen. Also, my Director and Dean went to bat for me so that I can keep my bike in the office. I am very appreciative of the support.
On Saturday (10/2) we still had a high temperature above 100, but we were told things were going to change. On Monday, the storms started to roll through and Lindsey got soaked on the way home from school.
The real storms hit on Tuesday. While Steven was at the Downtown Campus, they were hit by a wind storm that was knocking over trees. Meanwhile Dawn was at home watching pea size hail pile up in the yard. Storms kept pounding Mesa and Dawn saw rain fall hard enough that she could not see the house behind our and watched our street flood. The storms kept coming. Dobson High School delayed releasing students at the end of the school day because of a Tornado Warning and the trees that were falling down all over the neighborhood justified that decision. While we had no damage, there were many streets in our neighborhood with tree branches and even whole trees in them. Steven left the Downtown Campus on the campus shuttle back to Tempe only to get caught in a hail storm in Downtown Phoenix. Fortunately, he clouds parted and Steven biked home from Tempe under blue skies.
But what Steven saw an the way home was stunning. While there was some minor flooding in Tempe, there was little if any damage. However, as he was pedaling on the bike path less than a mile from home, he came across a stretch of destruction. For a half mile the 30 to 40 foot tall power poles had all fallen and almost everyone of them hit a house. All of the houses in between were draped in high tension power lines. The only thing that stopped the dominoes was the fact that there were metal poles along the line that held.
As of today (10/11), all of the poles have been cleared away and new metal poles have been put in place. Judging from how the equipment was setup, they will begin stringing up new power lines tomorrow. Since the storms, until today, the high temperatures have stay below 90 degrees.
The day after the storm brought more darkness.
Steven's office was moved earlier in the Summer from the Tempe Campus to the new SkySong "innovation center" that the University created in Scottsdale. Steven biked to work as usual, but when he left earlier to go to Lexi's band concert (to be featured in a future post), he found his bike lock cut and the bike stolen. What makes things even worse is that there was an incident two weeks earlier where the headlight was stolen off the bike and the building security team promised to keep an eye out. The bike that was stolen was the one Steven bought when he arrived in Arizona, a mountain bike that had been converted into a commuter bike. He had stopped riding his old red road bike due to the back wheel being bent, but Dawn was able to call around and managed to get it repaired by Friday evening.Having a bike on Saturday morning was a big deal, it was the annual Tour de Fat that is run by the New Belgium Brewery in honor of their beer Fat Tire. The Brewery does a lot of work supporting cyclist and as the MC said "We are not anti-car, just pro bike." A great feature of the festival is the "parade" of bikes through the streets of Tempe by thousands of riders, many that are costumed. The girls were very excited that we were able to ride despite all of the drama of the week.Talking about the drama, I (Steven) is very happy that Dawn was able to get the bike repaired. It was not in the budget, but she figured out what to do in getting the bike repaired and made it happen. Also, my Director and Dean went to bat for me so that I can keep my bike in the office. I am very appreciative of the support.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Oops, I forgot to post things here
You might have thought that we forgot about the blog. We had not forgotten about it. We kept meaning to post things, but we just never did.
So what have we been up to. A lot of different things. Instead of recounting what we have been doing, I showcase the pictures of things we have done.
First, I hope you are keeping up with my photo of the day. I have posted a picture everyday since I received my new camera.
Next, the Tempe Town Lake drained one night when the dam burst. Of course I was there the next morning documenting the destruction. The good news is that they are building a new dam and they hope to have the lake refilled in time for the Arizona Ironman.
For our anniversary we finally went to Sedona and Jerome. It was cloudy and rained almost the entire time, which allowed us a unique view of the area that you normally do not get until November - except that it was still warm.
We promise to get back to posting things more often.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
The Arizona Renaissance Festival
Saturday was not just the Spring Equinox, but also a day for us to visit the Arizona Renaissance Festival. The festival is located about a 30 minute drive from us, just east of the Superstition Mountains.
We made sure that we attended all three jousting tournaments. The first one ends with no real winner declared after a great spectacle of the catching rings on their lances, running obstacle courses, and then jousting each other. The second one ends with a bit of a temper tantrum with two knights challenging the two to a "duel to the death". The final joust ends with all of the knights eventually being dismounted and then engaging in sword play. At one point, an "evil" knight wields a flaming sword. But in the end a "good" knight wins.
We also caught a show of a guy that does all sorts of neat tricks with a whip, including one that is on fire as he uses it.
There were a lot of street entertainers and costumes to see. We started planning what we might wear for Halloween and next year's ren faire.
The girls had a blast and it was a beautiful spring day that was nice and warm. Yes, we all did come home with a little sunburn from the AZ sun, but it was a very mild one.
This was also the end of Spring Break for the girls, they go back to school on Monday.
Pictures from the Arizona Renaissance Festival:
Pictures from the Arizona Renaissance Festival:
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Getting back to normal
First and foremost, Steven got his bike back today! So after a long seven and half weeks, he will begin biking to work again. The weather has been cooperating, and we are looking forward to the high temperatures getting into the mid-80s this week with the lows still hovering in the low 50s. Plus the girls are on spring break this week, so the good weather is a very welcome thing after the soggy February we just had (1.36" - 19th wettest on record) the followed the 4th wettest January (2.43").
Not too long ago, Lindsey had another chorus concert and Steven recorded (see video below). He has also been having fun with his new camera. He has made a point to take a picture everyday that he shares on Flickr. Take a look at the album below.
Dawn picked up tickets for us all to go to Senior Day for the ASU Men's Basketball team. It was great to see ASU wallop UCLA from the tip, but it was sad to see ASU miss the NCAA Tournament despite finishing second in the Pac-10 Conference during the regular season.
Steven also took a day off to join Lexi and her class for a field trip to Chase Field. They enjoyed getting a behind the scenes tour that included the visiting team's locker room and the home team dugout.
Chase Field Tour:
Picture of the Day:
Not too long ago, Lindsey had another chorus concert and Steven recorded (see video below). He has also been having fun with his new camera. He has made a point to take a picture everyday that he shares on Flickr. Take a look at the album below.
Dawn picked up tickets for us all to go to Senior Day for the ASU Men's Basketball team. It was great to see ASU wallop UCLA from the tip, but it was sad to see ASU miss the NCAA Tournament despite finishing second in the Pac-10 Conference during the regular season.
Steven also took a day off to join Lexi and her class for a field trip to Chase Field. They enjoyed getting a behind the scenes tour that included the visiting team's locker room and the home team dugout.
Chase Field Tour:
Picture of the Day:
Friday, March 5, 2010
So even though Steven's bike isn't fixed yet, I decided it was time to get back on my bike. It suddenly hit me that the triathlon that I want to participate in is only 9 weeks away. So all sorts of activity this week. Monday and Wednesday involved walking/jogging with Tuesday being a bike day. I am averaging about 2 miles on the walk/jog and about 10 on the bike rides. Thursday I combined them trying to simulate doing both of them in one day. I did ok. I spent too long in the transition area( the house) but did ok with doing both activities in one day. I included some weight lifting and then after weeding the front yard I took Violet for a walk. So yesterday was an active day. I was hoping to get another active day in today, but had to go to ASU to solve some problems with my registration there. That took most of the morning and then getting a wedding present for some friends took up a good chunk of the afternoon. So I guess I will have to find some time this weekend to squeeze in the exercise. My plan is to ride my bike to work on Monday and Wednesday and on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday next week do the double thing again. I am doing the weightlifting every day.
I had forgotten how meditative getting in the groove when exercising can be. Lots of random thoughts going through the brain when you are out on the bike. I know that part of my problems with food are hating to cook for myself and feeling as if being able to buy lunch out gives me a sense of doing something for my self. In the past I used to take that as the only thing that I could do for my self. Since moving out here, Steven has worked hard to make sure I knew that I came first to him atleast. It has taken some time but I am finally ready to believe it. I have spent some time convincing myself of it and I feel as if it is finally starting to take hold.
Oh well onto the plan for the next week. Well Saturday we are going to get our veggies from Bountiful Baskets a food coop we belong to. Then off to an ASU Men's basketball game. Somewhere in there will be some physical activity of some sort. Jogging atleast 3 days next week with bicycle riding 4 days. Weight lifting 4 days and sit ups atleast 4 days. I want to improve distances next week. I am not worried about time right now. At this point I am not swimming, as our pool is still too cold for me to get in so I will have to simulate some swimming strokes here with the weights until I can get in the pool.
lost inches this week. will post more later
I had forgotten how meditative getting in the groove when exercising can be. Lots of random thoughts going through the brain when you are out on the bike. I know that part of my problems with food are hating to cook for myself and feeling as if being able to buy lunch out gives me a sense of doing something for my self. In the past I used to take that as the only thing that I could do for my self. Since moving out here, Steven has worked hard to make sure I knew that I came first to him atleast. It has taken some time but I am finally ready to believe it. I have spent some time convincing myself of it and I feel as if it is finally starting to take hold.
Oh well onto the plan for the next week. Well Saturday we are going to get our veggies from Bountiful Baskets a food coop we belong to. Then off to an ASU Men's basketball game. Somewhere in there will be some physical activity of some sort. Jogging atleast 3 days next week with bicycle riding 4 days. Weight lifting 4 days and sit ups atleast 4 days. I want to improve distances next week. I am not worried about time right now. At this point I am not swimming, as our pool is still too cold for me to get in so I will have to simulate some swimming strokes here with the weights until I can get in the pool.
lost inches this week. will post more later
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