Friends

You know, a really big part of life is friends. I exchanged this sentiment today over text with a young woman who unexpectedly lost her father a few days ago. She is overwhelmed with the love and support being shown by her friends. As I have gotten older I have come to appreciate the value of friends more and more. A couple of years ago, Robb suggested that a group of 5 of us get together for a Spring weekend of cards and four wheeling. This past weekend we got together for the third annual. Our group has grown to include more friends and family. It was a blast. These are some pictures of our fun!

NYC

It appears as though time is moving so fast that a week has gone by without a post. Sorry. Angie and Liz spent the weekend in NYC to see the production RENT. They had a great time and loved it. Liz is a shoe afficianado. This is her in shoe heaven.

I spent the weekend with friends four wheeling. I am told pictures will be coming my way soon. There are some good ones.

Back in Minnesota

I made it home at 2:00 this morning. The highlight today was passing the motorcycle permit exam. Now I am legal. Tomorrow I drive the bike home. Tonight Ron had a baseball game in Cherry (HC won 2-1). On our way home, right near Marble, there had been a controlled burn. This tree was still burning late into the evening.

Clearwater Beach

Enough said.

Tampa Bay Rays

We went to the Tampa Bay Rays game against the Chicago White Sox tonight. They won (yeah! like to see a AL Central foe lose). Notice they have changed their name. They used to be the Devil Rays. I guess that the word devil had some bad conotations...never mind that the creature the team is named after is a DEVIL RAY! Oh well, it was a fun time for our Navy team. You will see that CAPT Barry still finds a way to get his picture taken with younger women. This is a cool sunset. Tomorrow night we want to get to the beach for some more sunsets over the gulf.

Florida

This weekend I am travelling to work for the Navy. This trip brings me to Tampa, Florida. A couple of months ago when I was working in New Orleans I was able to have dinner with my parents when they were at the beginning of their Winter trip. Tonight we had dinner in Clearwater at a nice barbeque ribs place. Tomorrow they head back to Minnesota.

Mom and Dad are pretty active. Notice their minivan with the kayaks on top. They also carry their bicycles, weight bench, and dumbbells in the back. On this trip they kayaked 100 miles and biked 400 plus did lots of fishing. It is sure nice to see them again.

It is also nice to see some sunshine and ocean! Especially after the past few weeks of snow. Well, I better go get some rest. Tomorrow I have take on the burden of defending our country. I hope you feel safe.

Detroit Airport

Have you ever been to the Detroit Airport? They have two really cool art exhibits. The first is a 1/4 mile long tunnel that has all of these cool colors flashing in concert with classical music. Very very neat. I was wearing my ICC sweatshirt that on the back has a list of "You know you are an engineering student if:" As I was taking pictures, a guy came up behind me and said "you know you are an engineering student if you take pictures of this tunnel"!

The second artwork is a huge circular marble table that is a water fountain. The fountain has many different circular cylinder water tubes that fly all over the place. I often stare at it for 10-15 minutes at a time as I am passing through.