Greatest Birthday of All Time

The Canon Digital Rebel XTi: My Red Rider BB gun with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time.

Katie surprised me by giving me my birthday present a few days early. I could hardly believe my eyes when I unwrapped my new Digital Rebel. Turns out, Katie has spent the last several weeks scheming up a way to get the camera for me before we leave for Korea early next year. I haven't been this happy since I unwrapped my Nintendo Entertainment System on Christmas morning, 1990. And my new camera won't cause my thumbs to cramp up!

What can I say? Katie knows how to make me happy. I have the sweetest wife ever...

Happy Halloween

A couple of nights ago Katie and I performed our annual autumn tradition of watching a scary movie while carving jack-o-lanterns. Okay, so the movie was "Clash of the Titans" (it has a really scary stop-action Medusa), and only Katie carved her pumpkin; mine is still in the planning phase. I managed to come up with several promising pumpkin faces on paper, however. We still had a great time. Katie's snaggle-toothed pumpkin is currently sitting on our dining room table, exactly where it was when I took this picture.

Midterms and Superbowl Commercials

October: The month for midterms. Things have really picked up as I've passed the "half-way" mark for the semester, and it's exciting and exhausting all at once. Campus is really beautiful right now, as fall has finally arrived and changed the trees. The air is crisp, especially in the mornings and evenings. The photo above is of one of the churches on the Auraria campus, St. Catejan's. It is one of several church buildings on campus that I walk past numerous times daily. The Auraria campus was once a town; the walkways throughout campus were once its streets. As the result, a number of buildings, like churches and houses (many dating from the Victorian era), still remain.



On Monday I missed my last class of the day in order to participate in a study group downtown. My opinion is considered so incredibly valuable that I am infrequently contacted by a company that coordinates market research studies for all kinds of corporations. All that was required of me this time was my opinion regarding several potential Budweiser packages, and a number of possible Superbowl Bud commercial story boards. I hope you like the commercials I have chosen for you. We met in the company's office suite, located on the 31st floor of one of the prominent skyscrapers on the Denver skyline.

When I finished, I walked out onto 16th Street Mall. It was evening, and I had our digital camera, so I took this picture. You can see the Colorado State Capitol in the far left. Katie and I are doing well, despite our hectic schedules. We've been crunching numbers lately, and doing a lot more planning as Korea approaches.

A Trip to Oklahoma

Last week, Katie and I, along with my Mom and Dad, went to visit relatives in western Oklahoma. As usual, we had a great time. We got to see tons of family, and were even at Grandma and Grandpa's for the Texas/OU game, a source of great contention between the Texans and Okies in the family. Rather than give a detailed account of everything we did, I thought I'd just post a few pictures.



I took the photo above at the site of the Battle of the Washita near Cheyenne. The Washita was where chief Black Kettle and others were killed by Custer's 7th Cavalry. There is a nice, new visitor's center near the battle site where you can watch a documentary about it. We got into an insane amount of grass burrs ("stickers"), and there were lots of mosquitoes, but it was still a lot of fun.

Dad caught this huge grasshopper as we took the path down to the Washita River. Grasshoppers were everywhere; this one was exceptionally large.

A good shot of Dad as we stopped to rest near the river.



One of Mom, too.

Katie tries her hand at witching for water in Grandma and Grandpa's back yard, following Grandpa's directions.

As we drove through the Texas panhandle, Dad suddenly pulled the car over. He had spotted a tarantula crossing the the highway. Naturally, we all got out and looked at it. I don't think it was very pleased to have so much attention paid to it. Still, we managed to get it running in a direction away from the highway so that it wouldn't be flattened.



Dad made the mistake of ordering the "extra large" soft-serve cone at the Dairy Queen in Raton, New Mexico. As it wouldn't fit in the car, he had to eat it before we got back on the road.




My grandparent's dachshund, Allie, has an armchair all to herself that sits outside on the deck. When she's not being entertained by humans, she's kicking back in her chair.





A quick snapshot of Katie and I, taken while we were standing in the Cheyenne Pioneer Museum.

How to Witch in 4 Easy Steps

After years of hearing Grandpa Archer make passing references to "witching" for underground water, I finally insisted that he give Katie, Mom, Dad and I a demonstration. Witching (or "dowsing") for water is an ancient technique, and is apparently how my relatives decided where to dig their wells in western Oklahoma. While there are various ways to witch (dowsing rods, pendulums, etc.), Grandpa prefers to use a green twig, much like the 18th century French fellow in the picture at right. How does one witch for water? Here are Grandpa's steps:

1. Cut a "Y" shaped green twig. Grandpa recommends a peach twig, though he suggests willow as a possible alternative.

2. Remove leaves, knots, etc., with a knife.

3. Firmly grasp each arm of the "Y" in each hand, holding the twig palms-up. Hold the twig away from the body, straightening the arms until they are at a 45 degree angle.

4. Begin pacing forward slowly. When you come to water, you should feel the twig begin to twist itself downward, toward the ground.

For the record, when I tried I was able to get the twig to twist in my hand. Mom, Dad, and Katie were not met with much success. I've heard that dowsers can make a lot of money. Have I stumbled upon my life calling?