Bearded Bandit

It always stems from laziness. I don't feel like shaving one day and then decide just to shave part of my face to save time. About 2 weeks ago I did a goatee and it inspired me to grow a beard for a couple of weeks. What do you think? Sadly the wife is not a fan and I'm afraid this masterpiece will be gone in a matter of days.

Road Runner

I'm gunning for my dad's riverbank run record this year. Last year I thought I had a shot but my main goal was just to finish. Now I know I can run the distance, its just a matter of running it faster. The pace I have to run to beat the Elenbaas record is 8:29 min/mile which is no small feat for us "clod-hoppers." Last year I was very pleased with my result and I finished with an average pace of 8:50/mile.

My training has really taken off lately as I've begun the practice of running every day at lunch and then doing a long run with Jason every Saturday. The record is in sight...

First Career Change

My first career change will be about as minor as they come, but a change none-the-less. I'll be moving from the research and development department to the engineering department sometime in the next couple of months. Metaphorically I'm going in the wrong direction because right now I'm on the top floor (2nd floor of 2) of the tallest building at our site and I'm moving to the 1st floor of our shortest building (we have 2 office buildings). The change means I'll be playing with the 4000 gallon reactors a lot more than the 1 liter lab reactors. That's what I'm talkin' about.

Erin and I spent the final weekend of winter at home. Green beer for St. Patrick's day, saw a cousin who was in town for the weekend on Saturday, and celebrated a birthday with almost all the Elenbaases on Sunday. My brackets held up pretty well too.

Can't wait for Florida in 11 days! Seven full grown Elenbaases in a minivan for 20 hours. It'll be awesome.

Winter Cottage Weekend

Boys weekend at the Steensma cottage! Us 4 original supertubers: me, Jason, Darren, and Evan, spent Saturday and Sunday bumming around our favorite lake. We had the unique situation of 50-60 degree weather and sunny with a lake frozen enough to walk on.

When we arrived on Saturday we took a nice run around the lake and then began “exploring.” Our explorations were relatively tame compared to prior experiences but we had fun climbing trees, venturing out on the ice, and just messing around.




As expected, Darren pushed the limits a little too much and partially fell in,

He then did a jig on the ice after washing up in the 32 degree waters.

We slowly walked further out onto the ice until we found a hole and could see that it was still 6 inches thick.

Darren stood on “the smallest continent” which was between 4 primary tectonic plate fault lines.

We then claimed the island by flying our flag (a rag we had just found) at the highest point in the tallest tree.


Later we drove to another lake and did more of the same.

At night we played cards, board games, pool, etc. EXCELLENT weekend. Only 2.5 more months until Memorial Day! 18 days until Florida!

Soft side for donuts

Erin and I bought a deep fryer a couple months ago with a gift certificate we got for our wedding. At first we didn't use it very often because it seemed like a chore, but lately we've been trying it for a number of different foods. Last night we made donuts...yummmm. I have a big soft spot for fattening food; it may prove to be the end of me some day.

Boo Blue

On Saturday the 5 west Michigan siblings crammed into our 2-door Honda and drove to Ann Arbor for U of M's regular season finale. It was a extremely disappointing result, especially considering the fact that their postseason fate may have been determined by it. It was a close and exciting game but Michigan lost in the final seconds. Some analysts are saying they'll still be selected for the tournament but I'm not so sure. On the bright side Erin stayed focussed for the whole game. I'll make a Michgan fan out of her yet...


Another couple we know announced this weekend that they are expecting. That makes about 2,000. Seriously, though, we are at that stage where just about every one we know is starting to go kid crazy. Don't hold your breath for us, no 'little Randy's' are on their way for quite some time. We still have a couple of continents left to explore.

Siblings

This past weekend was siblings weekend at Calvin so the whole family came over. My parents stayed at our house for a night which was odd in a way. I spent 18+ years living in their house and now the roles were reversed for a night. It was fine but just a little odd offering them something to eat and cleaning up after them.

And since its my house this time, the no video game rule has been thrown out. Not only do I allow video games, but I forced my parents to play. They tried out Dance, Dance, Revolution for the first time and my mom really enjoyed it. My dad went back and forth between his hatred for it and his competitiveness with my mom.


My mom narrowly won which brought the following comment from my dad: "add that to pogo-sticking as the list of things you are better than me at."

Erin likes her drinks VERY cold, but for those of you that don't know the density differences between liquid and solid water, here is some helpful advice: Don't put a sealed container of water (or mostly water) into the freezer for too long. It won't bee sealed for long.