Well well, how time flies. It's hard to believe that school is starting again tomorrow. It's probably a good thing though, since it means finally getting back into a schedule. However, it has been nice to have some time to just relax. So without further ado, here's what the last week and a half have been like for us.
Shopping. Lots of shopping. Textbooks, clothes, and a few bonsai supplies. With the new school year coming we figured we'd better get ready beforehand, so that left us out of the house a fair amount. That, and when you're stuck in a small-ish apartment for two weeks with nowhere to go it's nice to get out, and shopping can provide a good excuse. We spent some time on outfits for school, but also a fair amount of time trying to find outfits for the Technofest that Julie is hoping to put on with the German Club to enhance awareness of the German techno and German department. As for bonsai supplies, after checking out several books on the subject and doing some more research it became apparent that we were somewhat...lacking in supplies to keep our trees healthy.
Apart from shopping, we also had lots of time to go through our movie collection. We were able to watch The Lord of the Rings over three nights, Napoleon Dynamite, and the new Indiana Jones movie, as well as Back to the Future II when it showed on Nick @ Nite. We've really enjoyed getting this time to watch so many of our movies--a rare opportunity with school now starting.
And who could forget the bonsai hobby? Since bringing our Serissa home we've gone through its leaves turning from green to yellow and finally back to green. We discovered that Siggy apparently prefers our bedroom on the south side of the house to our kitchen on the north side, so for now he's sitting on my nightstand next to our lucky bamboo. Our other bonsai has since started showing a few signs of illness, so we're working hard to improve its health. We're also trying to plant several cuttings--we'll see how that turns out in the coming weeks and months.
And that's about it for now. We're looking forward to seeing some of the family next weekend, and hope all is well for everyone!
As a side note, I have been working a little on the website and there are a few pictures up. Hopefully it'll be coming together more completely soon!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Weekly Update (8-17-10)
Yes I know, it's not a Sunday. Why late? Because of a weekend reunion for my wife's family near Morgan, UT! More on that later, but first let's explore the rest of the last week.
So as I mentioned last time, last week was the last of summer term here at the Y. I had my French test and Julie had a test and a paper, and with Julie working at graduation it's been quite busy with school things. My test went fairly well overall I'd say--it's amazing how much you learn in so short a time when you're taking class in the summer term. Julie commented that she was very proud of how much she got done, reading over 8 books in 7 weeks.
Alongside school has been work. I've completed my first MCNP code, though it apparently had a few bugs in it. It is interesting work since I don't actually run it myself, but rather have to send it to the professor. I don't know why, but I guess the people who made it only wanted the professors to use it. :P Aside from that little oddity, though, it's nice to have things settling in there. And while I'm just settling into my job Julie is finishing her time working as an usher for University events, with her last time being graduation last week. She will however be looking forward to being a grader for one of her German professors, and the work will at least provide more hours and at least equal pay.
Of course with school over, we haven't slowed down much yet. We headed out Saturday morning toward Morgan for Julie's family reunion. We made a stop along the way to a nursery in Salt Lake City called Cactus & Tropical where we got yet another bonsai, a serissa which we have affectionately named Siggy (after some deliberation). We'll be sure to get pictures up within the next few days. So after our pit stop in Salt Lake we kept on our way to the reunion, getting lost a bit and ending up taking about an extra hour or so before we arrived there. It was a big get together with groups from Julie's maternal grandmother's descendants. It was an interesting experience, but fun since I know some of Julie's cousins already since I grew up in the same ward as them! We had fun being outside, camping, stargazing, and having a fun program put on by some of the people there. We stayed through the late morning the next day.
Even with the reunion finished, our family visiting wasn't over. We went from Morgan to visit Julie's brother Adam along with the rest of Julie's immediate family. We had fun talking, sharing dinner together, and going to the local elementary school to play some basketball, foursquare, and to hit up the jungle gym with the younger kids. We then went with Julie's other brother, Robert, back to Provo to spend the night.
The next day we headed north once more, this time to meet up with everyone at Lagoon. After some issues meeting up we got in the park by noon and stayed until almost 10 that night. There were lots of fun rides for all of us. The more adventuresome of the group rode the Sky Coaster, the Rocket, and Colossus while others of us (namely Julie and I) rode the ferris wheel, Flying Aces, Hydro Tube, and Paratrooper. Julie and I also had some fun playing the midway games where we won a few fun prizes, including a stuffed alligator and a stuffed dragon. By the end of the day we were all exhausted, and at last we said our farewells before going our separate directions.
For the last bit of news, I thought everyone should know that our website is up and running a bit more now, and should be getting those pictures up before long!
So as I mentioned last time, last week was the last of summer term here at the Y. I had my French test and Julie had a test and a paper, and with Julie working at graduation it's been quite busy with school things. My test went fairly well overall I'd say--it's amazing how much you learn in so short a time when you're taking class in the summer term. Julie commented that she was very proud of how much she got done, reading over 8 books in 7 weeks.
Alongside school has been work. I've completed my first MCNP code, though it apparently had a few bugs in it. It is interesting work since I don't actually run it myself, but rather have to send it to the professor. I don't know why, but I guess the people who made it only wanted the professors to use it. :P Aside from that little oddity, though, it's nice to have things settling in there. And while I'm just settling into my job Julie is finishing her time working as an usher for University events, with her last time being graduation last week. She will however be looking forward to being a grader for one of her German professors, and the work will at least provide more hours and at least equal pay.
Of course with school over, we haven't slowed down much yet. We headed out Saturday morning toward Morgan for Julie's family reunion. We made a stop along the way to a nursery in Salt Lake City called Cactus & Tropical where we got yet another bonsai, a serissa which we have affectionately named Siggy (after some deliberation). We'll be sure to get pictures up within the next few days. So after our pit stop in Salt Lake we kept on our way to the reunion, getting lost a bit and ending up taking about an extra hour or so before we arrived there. It was a big get together with groups from Julie's maternal grandmother's descendants. It was an interesting experience, but fun since I know some of Julie's cousins already since I grew up in the same ward as them! We had fun being outside, camping, stargazing, and having a fun program put on by some of the people there. We stayed through the late morning the next day.
Even with the reunion finished, our family visiting wasn't over. We went from Morgan to visit Julie's brother Adam along with the rest of Julie's immediate family. We had fun talking, sharing dinner together, and going to the local elementary school to play some basketball, foursquare, and to hit up the jungle gym with the younger kids. We then went with Julie's other brother, Robert, back to Provo to spend the night.
The next day we headed north once more, this time to meet up with everyone at Lagoon. After some issues meeting up we got in the park by noon and stayed until almost 10 that night. There were lots of fun rides for all of us. The more adventuresome of the group rode the Sky Coaster, the Rocket, and Colossus while others of us (namely Julie and I) rode the ferris wheel, Flying Aces, Hydro Tube, and Paratrooper. Julie and I also had some fun playing the midway games where we won a few fun prizes, including a stuffed alligator and a stuffed dragon. By the end of the day we were all exhausted, and at last we said our farewells before going our separate directions.
For the last bit of news, I thought everyone should know that our website is up and running a bit more now, and should be getting those pictures up before long!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Weekly Update (8-8-10)
I didn't think you were supposed to get sick in the summer, but this last week has proven me wrong! It certainly has made the week feel sluggish, though, as both Julie and I didn't feel very well. We've managed to make our way through it though, and things are looking better for the upcoming week.
The week wasn't completely uneventful, though. As I mentioned last week I am starting the Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) programming research. So after my email last week, Dr. Rees brought me a notebook full with an instructions manual and a primer, so I have a lot of reading ahead of me. And on top of it all, I'm also supposed to get my first project (really just playing around with MCNP) done by next Tuesday.
On the school side, Julie has been busy with papers and getting ready to finish the semester, as have I. For our courses that has meant tests this last week, but at least on my end they seem to have gone well. It's incredible how fast Summer Term has gone by--tomorrow is our last day of class before Finals. Then Julie has work ushering for the graduating students Thursday and Friday, and then we're heading to Morgan for the weekend for Julie's family reunion.
Backtracking just a bit, I thought I should mention one more thing. For us the weekends have probably been at least as eventful as the weekdays, and usually more fun. Last Friday we headed to Salt Lake to pick up a book for Julie. While down there we went to The Blue Iguana, a crowded little Mexican restaurant that was lots of fun! They had amazing food and great entertainment with an older Hispanic couple singing songs the whole time. It was very entertaining and it was nice to realize just how much Spanish I still remember! It was right in downtown Salt Lake City with just a sign on the sidewalk pointing the way there, but definitely a must-see for those of you who crave Mexican food!
The week wasn't completely uneventful, though. As I mentioned last week I am starting the Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) programming research. So after my email last week, Dr. Rees brought me a notebook full with an instructions manual and a primer, so I have a lot of reading ahead of me. And on top of it all, I'm also supposed to get my first project (really just playing around with MCNP) done by next Tuesday.
On the school side, Julie has been busy with papers and getting ready to finish the semester, as have I. For our courses that has meant tests this last week, but at least on my end they seem to have gone well. It's incredible how fast Summer Term has gone by--tomorrow is our last day of class before Finals. Then Julie has work ushering for the graduating students Thursday and Friday, and then we're heading to Morgan for the weekend for Julie's family reunion.
Backtracking just a bit, I thought I should mention one more thing. For us the weekends have probably been at least as eventful as the weekdays, and usually more fun. Last Friday we headed to Salt Lake to pick up a book for Julie. While down there we went to The Blue Iguana, a crowded little Mexican restaurant that was lots of fun! They had amazing food and great entertainment with an older Hispanic couple singing songs the whole time. It was very entertaining and it was nice to realize just how much Spanish I still remember! It was right in downtown Salt Lake City with just a sign on the sidewalk pointing the way there, but definitely a must-see for those of you who crave Mexican food!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Weekly Update (8-1-10)
Hello all and happy Sunday! It's been a long time coming, but I figured I had better get to posting more consistently on the blog. I will try to put up a post weekly, probably on the weekends, to keep you updated on the goings on here in Provo or wherever we may be. I am also planning to start a website for things like photos and more of a general "where we are, what we're up to" kind of page, but we'll have to see how that turns out. If you want to keep an eye on it you can follow the link here. I will probably try to mention any major updates in future posts on the blog, though. Also as a final note before I go on, I hope to still occasionally post some of my thoughts as they occur, so don't be surprised to see multiple posts! Hopefully you will find them interesting, and possibly entertaining. Now without further ado, the weekly update:
The week has been pretty good to us overall. We got to spend last weekend in Logan and the surrounding area, visiting both sets of grandparents. It was nice to see them and to have time to chat, and I really wish we could have had more time to spend with them. We also got to visit Aunt Jane with Grandma and Grandpa Nielsen, and that was quite entertaining (especially having her bird Tink pecking and biting at us for the first little bit). We didn't get to see much else in the way of family, and we had to head back after lunch on Sunday so we could get settled back in before school on Monday.
The following week was fairly typical for us--lots of school! Well, more so for Julie than for me. I have my French 102 class every morning during the summer and Julie is taking African American Literature and Literary Analysis. She's done well in them so far, but she has lots of books to read and papers to write--I suppose that's part of the job description of an English Minor. My class is also going well and I've been really enjoying learning about the French language and culture. It's interesting to see the similarities and differences between French and Spanish. I also noticed this week how my ability to speak in French is developing somewhat differently from how I learned Spanish: my vocabulary in French is probably more well rounded, and what I know in each language seems to be more comprehensive in different aspects. Certainly there are things I could talk about in one that I couldn't talk about as well in the other. It will be interesting to see where things are at by the time I get through French 202.
Aside from school, I'll add just a bit about work. For those that don't know I'm currently working as a research assistant here at BYU, working for Dr. Rees and Dr. Czirr on the Neutron Detection Project. For me it's just been a matter of figuring out what exactly they're doing and where I can fit in. Dr. Rees suggested to me that I look around, but eventually seemed hopeful that I would take over the Monte Carlo programming, basically simulating experiments that they are considering. The program simulates the random paths and interactions of the neutrons we're trying to detect, letting us know what experiments and designs would be worth trying. After a while of weighing my options, though, I've finally decided to go with that, so I'll probably be taking over once the student working on it graduates in a few weeks. It should be an interesting challenge, but I'm glad that I get the chance to have the work.
Aside from work and school, this weekend has been quite a bit of fun for us as well. After wanting to get some more furnishing done for the past few weeks, we finally headed out yesterday and got it done. We ended up getting a rug to cover some of our "church carpet" in the living room as well as a bookcase from Walmart, so now we should finally have places to put everything. Also exciting (for us--a bit sad that it's exciting, really) was getting three plants to add to our decor: lucky bamboo for our bedroom, a bonsai tree that's currently in our kitchen, and a hosta for our patio! We may be just a bit crazy to be as happy as we are to have it, but I figure it's the closest we'll have to pets or a garden for quite a while.
And that should bring you up-to-date. This coming week will be our last week of classes, so we'll have to see how that goes. Until next time, have a great week!
--Brian
The week has been pretty good to us overall. We got to spend last weekend in Logan and the surrounding area, visiting both sets of grandparents. It was nice to see them and to have time to chat, and I really wish we could have had more time to spend with them. We also got to visit Aunt Jane with Grandma and Grandpa Nielsen, and that was quite entertaining (especially having her bird Tink pecking and biting at us for the first little bit). We didn't get to see much else in the way of family, and we had to head back after lunch on Sunday so we could get settled back in before school on Monday.
The following week was fairly typical for us--lots of school! Well, more so for Julie than for me. I have my French 102 class every morning during the summer and Julie is taking African American Literature and Literary Analysis. She's done well in them so far, but she has lots of books to read and papers to write--I suppose that's part of the job description of an English Minor. My class is also going well and I've been really enjoying learning about the French language and culture. It's interesting to see the similarities and differences between French and Spanish. I also noticed this week how my ability to speak in French is developing somewhat differently from how I learned Spanish: my vocabulary in French is probably more well rounded, and what I know in each language seems to be more comprehensive in different aspects. Certainly there are things I could talk about in one that I couldn't talk about as well in the other. It will be interesting to see where things are at by the time I get through French 202.
Aside from school, I'll add just a bit about work. For those that don't know I'm currently working as a research assistant here at BYU, working for Dr. Rees and Dr. Czirr on the Neutron Detection Project. For me it's just been a matter of figuring out what exactly they're doing and where I can fit in. Dr. Rees suggested to me that I look around, but eventually seemed hopeful that I would take over the Monte Carlo programming, basically simulating experiments that they are considering. The program simulates the random paths and interactions of the neutrons we're trying to detect, letting us know what experiments and designs would be worth trying. After a while of weighing my options, though, I've finally decided to go with that, so I'll probably be taking over once the student working on it graduates in a few weeks. It should be an interesting challenge, but I'm glad that I get the chance to have the work.
Aside from work and school, this weekend has been quite a bit of fun for us as well. After wanting to get some more furnishing done for the past few weeks, we finally headed out yesterday and got it done. We ended up getting a rug to cover some of our "church carpet" in the living room as well as a bookcase from Walmart, so now we should finally have places to put everything. Also exciting (for us--a bit sad that it's exciting, really) was getting three plants to add to our decor: lucky bamboo for our bedroom, a bonsai tree that's currently in our kitchen, and a hosta for our patio! We may be just a bit crazy to be as happy as we are to have it, but I figure it's the closest we'll have to pets or a garden for quite a while.
And that should bring you up-to-date. This coming week will be our last week of classes, so we'll have to see how that goes. Until next time, have a great week!
--Brian
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