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Laralee bought some peppers and I thought the vibrant colors were pretty fun.

The rats all enjoyed Kyra’s bowl of Rice Krispies.

This cracked me up.

The new office is finally complete.

Yesterday the glass was frosted, and that finishes the series of contractors I’d hired to do various things. Now all of the office walls have a four-foot-high frosted strip, with regular glass the rest of the way up.

There’s been some joking about no-pants days, since you will no longer be able to see beneath everyone’s desks.

The break room has the fridge and some nice tile. We moved the foosball table in there because we needed room for the ping-pong table, and also because the acoustics are much better. When you slam a ball into the goal it echoes very nicely and sounds appropriately awesome.

And the conference table– all twelve feet of it– is pretty sweet. It doubles as a “duck and cover” fallout shelter in case of nuclear attack, because it’s the single heaviest thing in the office.

All in all, I’m really happy with the way things turned out. It was a tedious (and expensive) process but it’s a great work environment.

By now most of the internet has heard of the Orvillecopter. Some guy had a cat named Orville (named for the Wright Brother) and sadly Orville passed on to the Great Litterbox in the Sky. Some pet owners would bury their cat. Others might have him stuffed so they could always be reminded of their fond times together. But this guy turned Orville into a helicopter.

Working with a taxidermist, he inserted a bunch of model helicopter parts into Orville. His four paws are splayed wide, with a rotor on each one. Landing struts hang from his belly. And yes, he does fly.

Of course there are many people who are thoroughly upset about this, claiming that it’s disrespectful and exploitative. Whatever. I think it’s hilarious, and tons more fun that a plot in the back yard or a stationary stuffed cat to tuck in the corner and gather dust.

Roger invited me to join him at Lyons Pinball, a little dive in the nearby town of Lyons which– surprise!– specializes in pinball games. They have maybe forty or fifty pinball games, ranging from “classic” all-mechanical ones which probably have vacuum tubes behind the scenes to fancy new ones with lots of machinery and “missions” and LED displays. We made the rounds and had a great time. After an hour I had to head out to a meeting, but I’ll definitely be back. Zack heard about it and wants to head up there. And at the end of the night I’d spent less than five bucks in quarters: not bad for an evening’s entertainment.

We have three rats as pets, and tonight I decided we need to formally acknowledge our fourth rodent in the house. There’s a tiny brown mouse who’s been living in our basement for the past few months. I’m not sure where he hides, exactly, although on two occasions I’ve heard him scratching around inside the ceiling of my office.

A few nights a week, at about 9:30 Laralee and I will settle down in the family room to watch TV. Inevitably, during the show we’ll see the little guy pop out from under the basement door and zip across the floor to the laundry room. Then he’ll round the corner into the family room and go behind the TV. After a few minutes it’s over to the back door, then quickly under the couch. A few more minutes pass and he darts into the kitchen before heading back downstairs. It’s really quite funny because he always takes the same route. I imagine he’s just looking for a way out of the house. We’ve made a few attempts to catch him but he’s really fast– sometimes he’ll make a sharp turn on the hardwood and his little feet can’t get a good grip so he sort of slides a bit, frantically pumping his feet to get traction again.

I think I’m going to just go ahead and open the doors one of these evenings, and see if he takes the opportunity to escape.

Oh, and I decided to name him Franklin. No idea why– it just struck me.

Just back from playing ultimate, and the new office has a shower. Nice. It wasn’t overly hot today, but I’m still pretty sweaty after an hour in the sun. A shower sure felt nice.

Note to self: bring a comb next time.

When we woke up yesterday morning, the view out of our hotel window was this:

Snow and fog obscured the nearby mountains, and the snow was coming down pretty thick. We checked the weather forecast and road conditions for Yellowstone (our destination for the day) and learned that many roads in the park were closed, with snow tires required for winter driving conditions throughout the park. Moreover, it was going to snow all day with winds gusting to 30+ mph. Not really a fun day ahead.

So after a brief family conference, we voted to bag Yellowstone and head home instead. It was a real bummer, because we were only 60 miles away, but all of us felt that driving on slick roads (the van doesn’t handle very well on snow) and walking through the various areas of the park in 30-degree air with snow and gusting winds didn’t sound like much of a vacation. More than likely, some of the cool sites like the view of Upper and Lower Yellowstone Falls would have been a disappointment because you probably wouldn’t be able to see far enough in the distance.

We came home, driving through snow and rain for several hours before emerging into the howling winds of southern Wyoming.

Today was technically still our vacation, so I decided not to work (much). Instead, Laralee, Kyra, and I drove down to Boulder to watch the national championship game for USAU college ultimate. It was Wisconsin vs Pittsburgh, and the game was really fun to watch.

Pittsburgh ended up beating Wisconsin, who had a lot of deep-huck turnovers. Afterward the three of us went out for lunch at Red Robin and enjoyed the last day of our “vacation”. Not everything turns out as planned, but we still manage to make the most of it. Good times.

We’re up in Jackson, Wyoming this weekend for my brother-in-law Doug’s wedding. He met his wife at a little pizza place called Dornan’s, so they decided to get married there.

The weather forecast for this weekend was pretty abysmal: rain, snow, and highs in the 40’s. It was certainly true yesterday, although that didn’t stop us from swimming in the (outdoor) pool and relaxing in the hot tub. It was interesting sitting in the hot tub as cold rain dumped on our heads.

This morning, however, the rain stopped, the clouds parted, and the temperature rose into the 50’s. It was a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding. Driving north of Jackson we could see the Tetons on the west. Although the sky overhead was a clear blue, clouds wrapped the mountains. Pretty cool.

At Dornan’s, we headed down to the river for the ceremony. It was really pretty with the mountains in the background (unfortunately not visible here).

As we finished and started the reception, the clouds started rolling in.

Literally in the span of minutes, the sky went dark and howling winds and rain started up. A microburst literally peeled the roof off a nearby building. There were a few lightning strikes visible to the west. The mountains quickly vanished in the grey gloom.

The rest of the day remained cold and rainy, but it was pretty neat that during the wedding it was absolutely gorgeous.

Congratulations to Doug and Jen!