Museum Visit

Yesterday, Brian and I went to the Brogan Museum to see an exhibit about the human body. It was a little creepy but also really interesting. The bodies came from China and were actual people, preserved and partially disected to show various parts of the human body. I thought that the skeletal and muscular systems were most interesting, but they also had reproductive, endochrine, circulatory, etc. The fellow pictured below is one of the first people we saw (these are pictures from online--actual photography in the exhibit was prohibited).


Along with the full bodies partially dissected, they also had a lot of individual organs preserved, like this kidney. The brains and bladder were quite interesting in my opinion. The most scarring part for Brian was the placenta display (at least, he seemed scarred).

The circulatory displays were quite pretty (lots of tiny red veins), but I an generally more interested in the muscular/skeletal side of things (more related to my work).

A bit of spring

I know many of our readers live in northern regions, where there is snow and ice covering the ground. Here is a little bit of spring for you. It will eventually come to your home as well, but it may take a little time. I am posting a series of pictures, starting with a large overview and then zooming in to look at individual plants. The first picture shows our front yard. As you can see, it is pretty cloudy here today (that is, there are some clouds).


This next series of pictures will show close-ups of inidivudal plants on the right side of the picture (right of the steps). The bush closest to the steps has light pink flowers, which are just arting to bloom. Next to that in the flower bed, we have some crocuses & dafodills that have come up. They have great leaves, but no flowers. I have no idea why they don't have flowers up yet.

The next group of pictures are plants on the left side of the first picture (left of the stairs). There is a pink flowering bush in this side too, but the flowers are a deeper pink and the bush has a lot more blossoms. I think this is because this area gets more sun than the right side. The snapdragons we planted last fall survived the winter and some are blooming already again (pink and yellow). They are hardy (apparently).

Brian planted some bulbs this afternoon. The bulb types are pictured below. These plants are supposed to get pretty tall, so we will see how the front yard looks when they grow in.

Around the side of the house, you can see the great palm that mostly hides our back porch (laundry area) from general view. There are also a couple of bushes with nice red berries. I have been told that these are an invasive species, but I enjoy them. The window with red curtains is the kitchen window, so I stand at that sink and look out at these plants fairly regularly.

These last few pictures are of the tree that just starting flowering this week. This tree is located off to the right in the first picture. It is between our house and our neighbor's house, right by where we park our car. I have been observing it's progress when we head to work every morning.

So cloudy!

New stuff, lovely spring

First off, I want to thank my dad for leaving a comment on the blog. Comments really make me think "I need to post again soon," so thanks, Dad.

Today I got something super-cute in the mail. (Hint: check out my feet in the picture below.) Thanks D&R! You can also see the glasses I picked up from Walmart last weekend in this picture. I can see thinks in the distance a lot better now, and it makes me feel happier about being outside (since things are not a bit blurry any more). It has been really nice outside lately. Today I weeded our flower bed and watered the snapdragons. We planted them in October I think, and they are getting to be a nice size. Since they seem to be doing well, we will probably leave them be for the summer. Brian got some bulbs a couple weeks ago, and I might put them in this weekend. It is a little tricky since all the trees in our yard make one side of the flowerbeds shady, but I got some bulbs that say they can handle that. Our crocuses from last year are coming up again, and we have some nice bright pink flowers on one of the bushes. The last couple days, I have been opening several windows when I get home. The air is so fresh!


When I was at Walmart last weekend (when Brian was in DC), I finally picked up a computer camera for Skype. We did find our old camera, but it doesn't have drivers compatible with Vista, so it did not work on my computer. This new camera seems fine, and it came with a new headset (in the picture).

Back from DC

The team and I are back from DC, and the team with a few new resume lines at that. Ashley was awarded Best Advocate of the competition, Trevor was complimented with the highest technical score on the brief (which he particularly focused on), and Trevor and Ashley together won second place in the competition.

The final round was against Brigham Young University, the same school that took second place when Nate and I won in 2007 and that also took second place last year to I believe Duke's first place. I thought Ashley and Trevor performed tremendously in the final round and I would have given them the nod. But BYU's team, who we had also competed against in the quarter-finals, really pulled out all its stops in the final round and did quite well. We were told that the judges had difficulty picking who won and many of the scoring was 2-1 in favor of one school or the other, with both FSU and BYU winning out in different scoring categories. Trevor and Ashley will get their actual scores at a later date.

I did not do as much walking around DC as I have in previous years because our flight on Sunday was at 8 a.m., meaning we got to the airport at around 6. I also did not feel 100% well and so I opted not to go walking about for a long period. But I did walk over to the Washington Monument, from which I could see the Lincoln and WWII monuments. I enjoyed the brief walk.

Now that I am back in Tallahassee and moot court has concluded I will return to the same sorts of things I had been doing in December and the months prior to that: searching for a position for later in 2009, working on side projects (both employment-related, like the annual Handbook update, and personal, like my friend's wedding video), and the regular around-the-house maintenance (including trying to revive our plate coral which is not doing well).

We hope to see you all soon.

Moot Court, Justice Wells, and Brussels

Well, tonight was quite the night. In fact, this whole last few weeks have been a whirlwind. Last week, and the week before that, and part of the week before that I was coaching moot court panels for the two teammates going to DC this weekend. I have enjoyed it and am looking forward to seeing DC again this weekend. I am also looking forward to turning to other tasks I need to focus on after this weekend is over.

Tonight was the retirement ceremony for Justice Wells. I was notified in advance that his current and prior staff attorneys were supposed to prepare humorous stories about him and that the night was to be something of a roast. So, I prepared a story and a few jokes, thinking it would be primarily his staff attorneys, friends and family, and perhaps a few other guests. It turns out no. Instead, it was I believe every member of the Court, several of the prior Justices of the Court, a few Senators and other government officials, plus other friends, family, and staff attorneys. Let me tell you, that was a roast that was somewhat nervewracking to give. I would have been more comfortable if I thought the material I had come up with was stellar, but it was only mediocre-Justice Wells is a hard man to roast. Best of all? -I went last, so I was the concluding note. No pressure there. But it was a good evening and people laughed.

Lastly, Brussels is doing pretty well. His bruises seem to be gone and his energy level is back up. He is acting like his normal self, perhaps more cheery than before. We hope his fur grows back soon because as far as Florida goes, it is very cold here.

Brussels update

Just a quick update from Brian (on Hanneke's computer) on Brussels. He has thus far recovered well from the surgery but we need to keep watching him for another week and a few days. His incision seems to be healing well and he has been eating and drinking steadily. He seems to have most of his cheerful and inquisitive attitude back and the fur that was shaved off his belly is already regrowing slowly. We hope his tail will soon regrow fur as well. All in all, though costly and somewhat stressful (for him and for us), he seems to be a happier and healthier ferret now than he was before. We will continue to watch him and see how he adjusts and recovers.