Missouri Life

Greetings from Missouri!

Life here hasn't been too bad—we're mostly moved into the house and have settled into a routine. We live on the far north side of Columbia. That means away from all the college students, but unfortunately away from all the social-y stuff as well. Columbia's a nice town though, and if we do go out, there's lots of exploring to get done (it's ~110,000 people). We have a couple sets of friends in the area as well, including one with kittens, so we tend to end up all over.

Four of us are living together (myself, Andrew R McHugh, Andrew Robertson, and Sam), two of whom I've lived with before so there's not a lot of adjusting to be done on that front. The house is nothing special, a four bed, three bath duplex that we keep at 77F when we do turn on the A/C (which is usually just when we have guests).

View of the living room
(Sam brews beer. That's all that stuff by the door)

A mostly clean view of my room. McHugh's is the messy one
you can see through my door.

I've been keeping a fairly normal schedule recently, commuting 5 days a week to school for my job (it's about ~45m to Fulton, but they don't expect me there right at 8 so it's been easy enough). So far I've mostly been managing login problems and other basic IT work for students, but I've spent a lot of my down time designing advising toolkits so academic advisors and alumni advisors will know what to do with the data coming out of students' e-portfolios. I don't see my supervisor very often (I think it's been a week), and I have a lot of freedom because the non-techy faculty basically assume I'm working magic. I have an "office" though!

My "desk art." It's a paper model I made of the USS Voyager,
from the TV Series Star Trek: Voyager. The quotes are from
Captain Janeway, my favorite character, on how to lead

My office at least has a good view. The silver
board to the right of my desk is my other personal
touch. It was one of my birthday gifts last year
and has a diagram of Derek Parfit's
"The Practical Problem and its Solutions,"
which I use almost daily.

I say "office," because two afternoons a week, it's former resident shows up and shares it with me (because he doesn't like sharing his current office? I'm not entirely sure why he's there). Then of course there's all the HR materials that people are always coming in and getting, plus the two printers student workers are always using...really I just have a space and the room is a common area.*

*Granted, it's still all a bit frustrating because one of the complaints about the Sustainability Fellow campaign (My position is equivalent but for the e-portfolios) was that we hadn't specified where such a person would be housed. So we did some research and learned that that was the job of the Space Allocation Committee—except, apparently, when it's not. My "office" was found and set up for me in less than two days. When the school actually wants something, the school gets it. They just didn't want the Sustainability Fellow.

I don't think much else is happening here really worth noting (I'm finishing books, riding my bike, etc). Hope everyone else is doing well!

The Great Adventure Continues

It really is the case that life is just one big adventure and every now and then you get some extraordinary moments. Those could range from our wonderful family get togethers to a quiet evening at home to the far off reaches of another land. For Kurtis and I, the past three weeks has been made up of some very extraordinary moments as we took a travel out to Australia. 

When we finished up with our European Adventure, nearly four years ago now, we immediately began naming all of the places we would like to travel to next. Australia quickly peaked the list and ever since we moved to NYC, we have been saving. I’ll try to make this short with pictures versus long with words because there is a whole journal full of things to read about if you have that interest. 

The top hits include but are not limited to: 

A journey to the Green Island at the Great Barrier Reef

 

Little Penguins and Koalas on Phillip Island near Melbourne

A helicopter ride over the Blue Mountain Canyon with Faye & Ian Pandelis (cousins) 

Kangaroos in the wild (pictures in Sept/Oct)

Wandering the rain forest of the Blue Mountains 

Climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge 

 

Uluru and Kata Tjuta (Ayers Rock) 

Taronga Zoo in Sydney 

Great Meals with Family in Sydney, Ballina and Wardell  

 

had to be sure you knew I was actually on the vacation too

- this is what relaxation looks like -

As we returned to work this week we have been tired beyond belief, but 100% happy with our vacation. It is amazing how much traveling to new places can open your eyes to entirely different and awesome worlds and how it allows you to stop, really enjoy life and re-energize. Hope you get a chance to stop and enjoy life for a moment or two this week. 

As for us, we are now facing a big move as our return to reality gave us the distinct knowledge that things keep moving on. And so, we move on to the next house - hopefully we'll find one this weekend and move next weekend. At least, that's the plan...more on that adventure next time. 

Lots of Love! 

Mary and Kurtis

Hey all.

Sorry for my tardiness on this post.  I had auditions this weekend and between those, trying to find another guy to be in the cast and catching up from New York, its been a doozey.

After my birthday, things got a little hectic in my life.  I went to the international convention of my fraternity.  This was in Minneapolis, MN.  I had a great time exploring Minneapolis and getting to know people in my fraternity better.  I was a delegate for the alumni association.  We discussed and voted on many pieces of legislation.  It was fun to get back into the habit of parliamentary procedure.  Hadn't done that since my days at Nebraska Wesleyan.

I then came home for a couple of days (5 to be exact) to catch up and attend my class reunion.  10 years since I graduated high school.  That is hard to believe.  Its always curious to look back at the past and see who we are and see where we've been and how we've developed.  Its true I had a lot of hard times in the past 10 years, but let me tell you, based on some of the people at the reunion, my hard times were a walk in the park.  I reconnected with a lot of people here in Hutchinson.  One of them said I was the only reason they enjoyed any part of the reunion which is awesome.

My next big adventure was my house sitting experience in New York.  As all of you know, Mary and Kurtis went on a major vacation to Australia.  They needed someone to watch the apartment as well as take care of their cats.  So I said yes and had a good time in NYC.  Besides seeing Kinky Boots, Pippin, The Trip to Bountiful and Jersey Boys, I actually got some paid work at the Signature Theatre Company assisting with a video shoot for one of their plays.  It was a big challenge and intimidating.  My job was to black out a swimming pool with a special cloth.  It took longer than was expected and people got nervous that it wasn't going to get done.  That through me for a loop.  But I tried to remain calm and collected.  The bottom line was I did as best as I could.  And I tried to put my best foot forward.  We'll see how that connection goes over in the future.

Because of my work in the video shoot, I was allowed to sit in on rehearsals for the play.  Unfortunately, Grainger got sick and so I was only able to attend one rehearsal.  However, the contact at Signature said that I would be welcome to sit in on any play that I'm allowed to next time I'm in town so that's pretty awesome.

My other gig that I got while I was there was assisting on a NYC Fringe Festival theatre piece.  This was a lot of fun.  I was assisting a K-State graduate who Mary and Kurtis both know.  Tim Aumiller was the director and playwright for this production.  It was a little bit racy and did involve some nudity so that was interesting to be a part of.

And most recently, I auditioned a play that I am directing called Be a Good Little Widow by Bekah Brunstetter on Saturday and Sunday.  I was short a guy in the cast but that problem solved itself last night.  The production, which is being produced by the Hutchinson Theatre Guild, goes into rehearsals tomorrow so I am going to be a busy guy here through the end of September.

On a lighter note, I did decide to go to Andrew and Katie's wedding.  I'll be travelling by train which is always one of my favorite activities.

Best wishes and love to all!

End of Summer

As this summer comes to a close there is one thing you can count on, Texas is going to be HOT in August - in the 100s! I drove home yesterday from Kansas where is was reasonably in the 80s. The day before that I was in Minnesota where it was refreshingly in the 60s :-). What a change in temperatures!

While I was away, James was preparing for another year of coordinating events for the UT Office of Admissions. His best man, Josh, was in town from China so he enjoyed catching up with him. And college football season is almost upon us, so James attended the open UT football team practice and is reading up on this year's team. We'll be attending the home games as we have season tickets again this year. Hook 'Em Horns!

Thank you all for the warm welcome in Kansas. It was so nice to see everyone and again I was reminded of how blessed we are to have such a close and loving family. Thank you all for your love and support! After our family dinner I was lucky enough to visit with Sarah, Olivia, Kinley, and the Reazin family in Lyons. The young ones are growing so quickly!

Next, I joined in on the family trip to Minnesota, which is always a great place to soak in nature. My favorite thing to do is lay in the hammock and read :-). We also love playing cards, putting together puzzles, grilling, boating, and playing cornhole. The last night we were there we had a bonfire and sat under the stars watching the meteor shower. The sky is so clear by the lake, which made it really easy to see what looked like lots of shooting stars. Here are a few pictures from Minnesota.

Dad on the jet ski and Samuel trying to calm Ember who gets very worried when anyone is in the water

Ember guarding the water :-)

Cornhole!

Erik taking his turn on the Sea Doo

Pokegama Lake

Sunset; the little black speck in the water is a loon

A view of the sunset through the reeds

Pasture Pictures August 10 The River is going down

We went down to the pasture to check on the flood waters today.  They had gone down a lot and we were thankful that there is just slight damage.  The shed has a layer of mud on the floor but it can washed off; there are some items that floated down the way and a propane tank that is missing.  All in all not bad.

Looking at the cabins from the top of the dike

Most of the water is gone by the cabins

Check out the roots showing on this tree.  It is coming out of the ground because it is so wet.

Looking toward the restroom.

This is the "path" we mow around the pond.

The pond is still very full.

Roots showing on the tree that toppled over due to the wet ground.

The dark spots are our footprints.  The ground is so wet our shoes left prints.

Looking from the bridge of the Ark River

This is the lane going into the pasture.

Love

Auntie

Pasture flood - pictures from 8-8

The pond has more than overflowed its banks. If you look closely you can see the bench. 

This is a tree near the first cabin (not grandmas and grandpas). It had split apart not from wind but because it became so wet. It's not in danger of falling on the cabin. 

If you look closely you can see the birdbath and hose thing are still there. 

Almost to the swing. 

In the distance is the bathroom but you really can't see it. The water was up to the first step but hasn't covered it. 

There was what appeared to be some higher ground that wasn't covered near the wedding tree. 

On the bridge. 

This is looking down the road on the decline just past the pond. It is where the water starts. 

The Pasture Inbetween Flood Waters

I stopped by the pasture on my way home from Wichita.  Grandma and Grandpa were there also so we inspected things and took some pictures. Grandma and I walked down as there was a path we could stay dry on.  In an hours time the water rose so there was no dry path anymore from the dike and you could hear the water moving.  It is amazing how fast it can come and what damage it can do.  However, the bad news is the water will be higher the next time we look! 

We lost this tree to the north of the kids cabin.The one behind it is leaning and roots are showing so think it maybe next.

Kids cabin with lattes gone.

Looking across to the bathroom.

The shed door was pushed open by the water, the propane tank was carried to the tree and the frame of the sandbox was carried down east by the standing birdhouse.

Site from the swing.

You can see how high the water was on the side of the shed wall.

The downed tree.

The sandbox frame.

The pond has risen also.  Grandpa says this is underflow.