T+ 68 The Great Puzzle Challenge

So people have been asking and no the puzzle is not done. And yes I realize I am 68 days past due, oh well. Here is where I am at.

Close but I know, NO CIGAR! It took me at least 50 shots to get this crappy picture. Holding a camera at the ceiling is not fun and yes those are my feet on the bottom.

In other news totally unrelated from the puzzle. Check out these 2 studs, separated at birth.

NCAA feva

Well it is basketball time again, what a treat. We have a board going here at work, the wager has not yet been determined and being as I am leading I am sure everyone else will pick a candy bar or something useless for the prize. pfft I never win when it counts.

Ben and I hit the east coast the weekend before last. Neither of us had been there before which was reason enough for us both to jump on cheap tickets, a cheap rental car and cheap hotels. Turns out it was the offseason in more ways than one in the coastel regions of New England. The views were still sweet but most shops, state parks and hotels were open in limited capacity only. Bummer, I guess that is just a reason to go back someday!

If you are truly a physics nerd you will cring at this word.....FORTRAN. As an undergrad physics student I was all to familiar with this ancient programming language. Turns out Fortran was developed in 1957 and 40 years later professors were still applauding it on its merits and making me learn it! Phooey I thought it sucked but I will pay tribute to it today as its creator passed on. Fortran I salute you for making my life a living hell in the basement of the science center but more importantly because you paved the way for innovation in physics and engineering.

Donuts?

Here we are stuck, stuck again, snowblowing and snowcatting (I look like the dude from Excitebike!) Oh Minnesota is sweet in the winter. Total bummer the unseasonably warm weather stole all the snow.

I spent most of the past week and a half in Iowa, have I said before I hate Iowa? We were busy with field work which was thwarted by high winds (surprise, surprise), cold weather, wet weather, fog, snow, fields with lakes and rivers, 2 broken radios, a busted ATV, a stuck ATV, an ATV with a bad leg and a bunch of cow poop. Bleeech. And just because a vehicle has tracks doesn't mean it can go anywhere, I think we should have rented a hoovercraft instead.

Now I am home and it is good, life on the road is not for me. (I HATE continental breakfast!!!!!) This morning I had a chocolate sprinkled donut for breakfast, I know that is not much of an improvement but I had to be rewarded for missing the bus. I can be such a loser and Ben you attribute to my loserness, I mean you bought the donut.

This is what I have been waiting for....

the snow, I love it. Thank you for the snow. We are going to check out Giant's Ridge this weekend, it should be awesome conditions.

Blizzards don't scare us, we braved the weather last weekend and even caught some fishies on the way. Well the girls did anyways, the boys (aka expert fisherman) didn't do quite as well. Check out the sweet fish we pulled out of Red Lake. (And yes Ben I know you believe you technically caught my crappie after the line broke and you dove down the hole after it, but that fish had my name all over it!)

How could it be March 1, time flies! Everything wedding is now done as Ben finished his thank you's last night. I guess we still have to contend with our photos and stuff, but hey there is not timeline for that. We are still getting surpise packages and cards which is kind of fun. One recent package we were not anticipating contained 28 tubes of toothpaste. It is good stuff, Crest Pro Health clean mint, and no we are not complaining but we will be working on that for quite awhile. We were also surprised by the one year subscription to Woman's Day. I never dreamed that would arrive in my mailbox, seriously who sent this to me?? I mean isn't the average reader about 50 not to mention the fact I think the magazine is a joke. This month' s headline read, "Lose 10 lbs without trying" and is overlaid on a giant picture of a chocolate cookie.