Happy Birthday to Me!

Thank you to everybody for the well wishes on my birthday!

Sam banished me from coming into the kitchen Wednesday night (the day before my birthday), saying she was making a surprise. She then got up early on my birthday to make me surprise Cinnamon Rolls. Yum! They were great, and even more amazing is the fact she made them from scratch. No dough-boy!

That evening we went to her parent's place for dinner. The menu was kept a secret (from me at least) up 'til that point, but it turned out to be a birthday favorite: TACOS! Yum. I guess someone had mentioned that we used to always request tacos for our birthdays when we were growing up. We also had pina coladas, which I wish we had though to request when we were growing up...

Cold Day v.2

After no cold days during the last 4 full years I've worked in Whitmore Lake, we get two in a row. So much for this week: I have a conference on Thursday, so I'll be out of the school, which leaves me actually in a classroom two days this week.

Sam informed me the high temperature today in Dallas is going to be 69 degrees F. I bet they don't get any days off of school for the cold. :)

No School: Cold Day!

After the first couple months of the winter season were downright balmy, mother nature has decided to average out the temperatures. There's no school in the Ann Arbor region today because it's COLD. Not just cold for Sam (with Texan blood), but cold for polar bears.

The image shows the Weather Channel's information for Ann Arbor at 7ish or so this morning. Check the wind chill at -25 degrees F. Currently (10:33 am), it's still -1 degree F.

Now all we need is a foot of snow and we can go skiing around here...

Early Birthday Treat!

Sam had been very cryptic about exactly why we had to go to the early church service today; when asked why she rubutted with, "Don't you trust me?"

Turns out they (Sam & her parents) had a post-service suprise for me at brunch at the Gandy Dancer. It was very yummy. It also explained why Sam tried to get me to dress up a little more than usual for church.

We tried taking a picture of the brunch area, since it was all fancy & stuff, though it was only mildy succesful.

Sometimes One Word is Enough

For those of you that haven't yet heard, I'm not going to tell you. You can click on the title or the image to find out- it involves the Weisses and Asparagus.

I think this is one of my favorite posts by my sister yet. I can see her typing/saying that, and I don't think I'm overly envious of Mike during the 15 hours or so...

:)

Physics Roller Coasters!

Last week (January 22 - 26) was pipe insulation roller coaster week for my Physics class. It's probably my favorite project of the year. This year we had 5 roller coasters, all of them much taller than any that had been built before them (the new school has 11 foot ceilings instead of 8 foot at the old school). The project is part of the Work & Energy unit, and as such the students have to calculate things like kinetic & potential energy, g-forces, and the minimum velocities to complete loops.

"Hazard Zone" (pictured) cleaned up in the awards category; they were awarded 1st place in the Safety, Aesthetic Appeal, & Creativity/Originality categories by the judges, which was enough to clinch the overall 1st prize. The other categories are Appriopriate Name for Coaster and Excitement Factor.

For more pictures and information check out the newly updated project web page.

The broadcasting class at Whitmore Lake High School also did a special feature on the roller coasters. You can view the video by clicking here, but be warned, the file is 53.0 MB (dial-up users may want to consider switching to cable).