Archive for the 'Day to Day' Category

Winter relents: weekend fun!

Posted by Nate in Day to Day, Weather.
Sunday, January 27th, 2008 at 5:35 pm


20080127153000_2223800401_3a12bd0386_o.jpgWhew!  Our last two weeks have had subzero temps overnight and never broke into the teens in the day.  This weekend’s warmup has been just the shot of midwinter hope we needed!  Karen and I went ice skating at a nearby park today, and it was perfect – sun shining, great ice, and happy, smiling people.

Today hit nearly 40(!!) degrees, and tomorrow’s supposed to be the same.  They’re even talking about some rain, which may wreak some havoc on that evening’s broomball game, but overnight it’s supposed to fall back to below zero!  But hey, as long as the ice sticks around and we get some more snow soon, I can live with the ups and downs!

Welcome to the World, Baby Liam!

Posted by Karen in Family, Holidays/Birthdays/Etc.
Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 1:46 pm


20080124114009_trevorliam.jpgHere he is!  The newest addition to the Phillips family, and Duoteam’s new nephew!  Baby Liam was born yesterday at around 2:30pm and weighed in at a hearty 9 lbs 4 oz.  We can’t wait to meet him!  I’m sure we’re going to be best friends.  Mother, baby, and rest of family are all doing well.  And based on the background noise during the brief conversation I had with my brother, the little guy seems to already have some strong lungs!

Congratulations, Daniele, Dean, and Trevor!!!

(I know, I know.  You can’t even see Trevor’s face, let alone Liam’s.  But I just couldn’t wait for more photos!  And this one is pretty darn cute with the whole big brother thing going on.)

Happy Dator!

Posted by Nate in Holidays/Birthdays/Etc.
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 at 7:19 am


What’s Dator?  Well, it’s like "Nator day" crossed with "date day": Dator!  Karen took me on a day-long surprise date on Saturday to thank me for taking care of her while she convalesced – no thanks needed, but hey, I’ll take it!

20080115045544_20080113_153153.jpgAs the itinerary says, I got to sleep a bit while she made some delicious raspberry and white chocolate giant muffins.  Extra exciting because she got to use her new muffin tray!  Some coffee and Bailey’s later and I was off for broomball practice while she ran some errands.

After practice it was time for beer and pretzels at home while we got ready to start the "steppin’ out" portion of the Dator, starti20080115045411_20080112_150106.jpgng with a matinee of Avenue Q!  We tried to take a picture without a flash but it’s pretty blurry.  That’s me giving the preshow music a thumbs-up.  It was pretty cool how quickly our brains accept the puppets as characters – after the first 5 minutes you really stop noticing their handlers and just focus on the puppets.  It was a really fun show!

20080115045428_20080112_182655.jpgWe had a bit of time to kill before the next section, so we popped into a little Scottish bar I’d always wanted to try and had a beer.  20080115045457_20080112_182857.jpgThen off to the Ice Chamber!  I had never heard of this place, and it doesn’t seem to be on their website, so I’m not sure what strings Karen pulled to find it, but it was awesome!  There’s a frozen bar serving martinis, and just outside is a big "table" full of crushed black glass.  20080115045511_20080112_195920.jpgThere’s either propane or natural gas being pumped through a grid under the glass, and the effect is really cool – or, really warm!  It was like sipping martinis around a campfire on a cold night, but with none of the smoke and campfire smell.  Sweet!

(Odd side note – I ran into the new director of the Walker on our way out!  She’d just started earlier that week and we’d met twice before, but I suspect I’m not really on the short list of people she needs to remember…  :)

We were in need of sustenance, but lo and behold the Dator schedule had anticipated this.  Off to the Mission American Kitchen for food – we toyed with getting entrees but ended up splitting several of their mouth-watering appetizers.  Delicious!

20080115045531_20080112_230354.jpgBut it wasn’t over!  Back home, Karen took me upstairs where she’d put up our little Christmas tree and decorated!  Between tonsils and everything, we’d never had a family Christmas.  You can see how excited I am about my presents.  Surprise!!

Whew.  An amazing and super fun Dator!  Thanks, Karen!

How about that…

Posted by Nate in Bike Commuting, Weather.
Tuesday, January 8th, 2008 at 7:59 am


I’ve been noticing as I leave work that my bike lights seem less and less necessary since it’s been so much brighter. At first I thought maybe it was the snow reflecting more light, but it’s also definitely been staying lighter later.

I was confused since I noticed this about a week ago and the solstice had only just passed – how can it be this much brighter already? And why is the morning still so darn dark if the days are really getting that much longer?

Turns out (and I’m fuzzy on the exact details) that it’s got something to do with the tilt of the earth and the fact our solar orbit is an ellipse rather than a circle. Basically, the sunrise times and sunset times move slightly out of sync. If you graph them they still look sort of like sine waves, but they’re shifted just out of phase.

Our sunrises continue to be later (darker longer) all the way through December 27th, almost a week after the solstice, but our sunsets start getting later (lighter longer) on December 10th! The combination of movement puts our shortest day (and everyone’s) on the 21st, but I never really did the figuring to realize how differently the sunrise and sunsets change.

And now it’s in your brain, too.

Christmas in Colorado!

Posted by Nate in Bruno, Family, Holidays/Birthdays/Etc.
Tuesday, January 1st, 2008 at 1:30 pm


pict0005a.JPGWhat a whirlwind!  We got back the 30th after leaving Christmas eve for Colorado – J&J, Sierra, Steve, me, Karen, and Bruno in a rented Suburban driving cross-country.  We intended to go strpict0001a.JPGaight through, but we ended up crashing for the evening in Columbus, NE, with Karen and Steve’s brother Dean.  His wife Daniele managed to conjure up stockings for us all in the morning, it was amazing!  And Bruno got to play with Maceo, one of their dogs (the other one had to stay in her kennel).

Back on the road to CO the next morning we hit some pretty bad weather in the last pict0013.JPG1/4 of Nebraska…  A few white-knuckle hours later we crossed into Colorado where everything cleared up, and mere hours later we were opening gifts with the family!  I got a sweet shirt, the first issue of Make pict0001.JPGmagazine, and some Climitts for my frozen fingers on my bike – I can’t wait to try them out tomorrow!  Karen got a giant muffin pan, women’s work gloves, portable speakers for her iPod, and some hand / wrist warmers she’s already raving about!

pict0007b.JPGThe next day we went snowshoeing up in Rocky Mountain National Park at a trail I don’t know if I’d ever been on – but it was so cold and windy I neglected to take any pictures!  The wind died down a bit in the trees and the mountains were beautiful.  It was a great break from all the running around.

pict0005b.JPGBruno and Te Beagh reconnected and had a great week playing in the snow.  Regan, two years older than last time they met, was a little less receptive this time – she ended up snapping at pict0007.JPGBruno a few times and one time caught him pretty good on his ear.  I taped some gauze on it so it wouldn’t bleed when he shook his head and he never seemed to mind – heck, he’s an 85 pound dog!  Now if we could just teach him to listen when other dogs say they don’t want to play…

pict0008.JPGThursday we headed to New Belgium brewery for a few samples, then back home for the now-annual Jeopardy game!  This year, instead of making noises to "buzz in" we made colorful paddles to lift.  Laurel drew a nice Christmas tree that ended up on fire – you know, to get the judges’ attention – and I decided it needed a message from a (super-ripped) Smokey the Bear.  Unfortunately that was the pinnacle of our genius for the week – I think we came in dead last in the Jeopardy game.  Ah well, next year!

pict0006.JPGFriday (I think!) we had a nice lunch with Troy and Scotty at Coopersmith’s and got to sample some of their great beer.  It was awesome to see those guys again, even if just for a short time.  Scotty, come back!  Troy, come visit!

Early Saturday morning Laurel and Freddie took off driving for LA via Las Vegas.  Crazy kids! pict0003.JPG The rest of us went by my Grandparent’s new place in Fort Collins for a visit and some snacks.  They miss Chicago but seem to be settling in well.  Then off to City Park to break in Justin’s new sled!  Quentin went over a jump a few times on his stomach and I thought he was going to faceplant, but we all survived without injury.

pict0005.JPGThat night Karen and Steve’s aunt and uncle came up from Denver for another visit to Coopersmith’s – perfect, since they had so many beers I wanted to try!

pict0006a.JPGEarly Sunday morning we were back on the road, and this time we took full advantage of the DVD player built into the Suburban – everyone watched (and I listened to) the first 12 episodes of Lost!  Crazy.  Good weather the whole way, Bruno was perfect in the car, and we got to meet Dean, Daniele, and Trevor for lunch in Omaha.

Finally home and collapsed into bed.  Great to see everyone and celebrate together!

Tonsillectomy Tuesday!

Posted by Karen in Day to Day.
Saturday, December 8th, 2007 at 11:53 am


Throat with TonsilsOh, you want me to post you say?  Well ok then.  Here’s what I want to talk about.  Tonsils. 

I’m getting mine removed a week from Tuesday.  Wah.  Lots of people get this done when they’re kids, and they’re lucky they did, because for some reason, getting them removed as an adult is much more painful.  When my Ear Nose Throat guy first suggested it to me, I said, "I’ve heard getting your tonsils removed as an adult really, really sucks."  His reply was, "Oh yeah, it really does."  He told me to expect severe pain for at least the first 2 days, to be out of work for 5-10 days, and for it to take 2 weeks until I can eat normal food again. 

I’m collecting DVDs from friends, and I intend to spend next weekend readying my recovery fort.  We’ve got a pull-out bed in front of the TV, I’ll have my laptop, some work stuff in case I feel productive or think pain-killers would add a fun twist to my projects.  I’ll have a dry erase board to communicate with my caretaker (Nate).  And while all you other suckers are packing on those holiday pounds, I will be slimming down into post-tonsillectomy Svelte Karen.  Jealous much?

Blog silence

Posted by Nate in Bruno, Day to Day, Projects.
Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 at 7:03 pm


Whew.  I wasn’t sure if I’d find time to post until after the holidays!  It’s been a little hectic around here, for sure.  A quick recap for those wondering what Duoteam’s been up to:

  • img_0479-resized.jpgCelebrating Thanksgiving in Nebraska at Karen’s brother’s house.
  • Karen helped decorate and overall spread good cheer for her office’s holiday party.
  • We’ve both had colds.
  • I haven’t biked to work since the day before Thanksgiving (see above – but I intend to soon!)
  • junie_bruno.JPGI finally started brewing again after blowing my supply at the wedding.
  • It snowed!  We’ve had two storms in a row, and more forecast for tomorrow.  After a disappointing winter last year, we’re off to a good start.
  • Bruno turned 3!  He got to have a little friend over for some massive bouts of tug-o-war.  Fun.

pict0004.JPGI’ve also been tweaking the mostly-working-perfectly wakeup system, just today I adjusted the sensor to determine when the alarm is going off and fixed a little bug in the light timing.  I had to program it to start about an hour before we want to get up since it takes that long for our house to get up to the temperature we want – it’s been near zero in the mornings for the last few weeks.

pict0003.JPGNot sure who’s interested in the details, but in the pic at right you can see the components that went into this.  From roughly left to right: the cannibalized innards of a 5V power supply ($2 at Savers!), the kit I put together to fade the 120V light, and on the right is a barebones Arduino board soldered into a little PC board I got from Radio Shack that’s also holding the rest of the circuitry I designed.  Nothing too complex, and I know I could have gotten it in a smaller box, but this one holds the light nicely.

Pretty nice in action, too.  It’s nice waking up to some light instead of bleak & cold darkness.  I’ve found it’s much more of a psychological effect (for me, anyway), where I’ll wake up with the light and the sound and know that there’s more time in the cycle before I’m "supposed" to get up, but I’ve been making an effort to not be tied to this "scheduled" wakeup time.  If I’m awake and it’s close enough, I get up!  Hard to break myself of the "but the alarm won’t go off for another 10 minutes!" thing – but I think that just leads to bad sleep in the morning.  Anyway.  Good progress, and I definitely like it better than any other alarm I’ve used.

That’s all for now!  Keep bugging Karen, maybe she’ll post!

The most fun you can have with a cold

Posted by Nate in Beer, Holidays/Birthdays/Etc, Weather, Wedding.
Monday, September 17th, 2007 at 8:52 pm


The honeymoon, as they say, is over.  Although I think "they" are usually speaking metaphorically, and in this case it’s actually over – literally.  We’re home!

And it was the most fun you can have with bad weather and two colds!  As you read last week, we aborted our put-in attempt at Sawbill due to wind, rain, and cold, and headed towards Ely for two nights.  pict0006-5.JPGKaren got her cold in Ely, and it unfortunately peaked in congestion just as we headed out and decided to go half a mile underground to tour the Soudan Underground Mine…  The 3 minute trip down the mine shaft resulted in popped ears and renewed sneezing, but it was a really interesting tour that gave me a much better understanding of the mining history of the region.  pict0009-5.JPGThere’s also a physics lab down there(!) where they run experiments with subatomic particles – the half mile of earth shields them from cosmic rays that would interfere with their instruments.  Pretty cool.

pict0104.JPGKaren’s cold had progressed and added a hearty cough by the time we made it to Scenic State Park for an awesome two nights of "almost camping".  pict0027-2.JPGWe stayed in a fantastic CCC-built cabin right on Coon Lake – no running water, but they had electricity and a gas fireplace(!) so it was nice and cozy.  We spent the days sneaking out for hikes and then returning to the cabin for Karen to recoup in her little sleeping bag cocoon by the fire.  pict0006-6.JPG(Karen had to stop for a nap on the trail during one of the hikes).  Overall it was a really nice compromise between hotels and the boundary waters – we got to cook our camping food, but also take care of Karen’s cold, and overall it was super relaxing.  We both powered through our books, learned to play cribbage, and enjoyed the amazing scenery and hiking.

pict0110.JPGFriday night neither of us slept well – there were mice running around in the cabin, and some bird outside decided to screech every time you’d start to drift off.  Really weird, I wish I knew what it was or what its problem was…  Saturday it was my turn to wake up with the cold as we packed up to head to Duluth.

pict0015-4.JPGThe first day in Duluth was great: a nice long walk on the boardwalk, lunch in Canal Park, shopped for some gifts, then back to the room for a quick round of cold medicine and ibuprofen.  Finally off to the Brewhouse for the finest beer they brew – their Anniversary Cherry Ale!  Karen had two of those and I sampled their cask IPA and an Irish Stout.  While I love the Brewhouse beers, I gotta say the Irish Stout at the wedding was better…  :)  Two games of Cribbage and some yummy food, and I was totally exhausted.  We watched some TV and passed out.

pict0004-13.JPGSunday was absolutely gorgeous.  We got a late start, then headed up the shore a bit for an amazing lunch at Nokomis, a relatively new restaurant just 9 miles from Duluth.  Karen had a really nice wine and I got to try Bell’s Batch 8000 – this year it’s a wheat wine, like a Belgian Wit but X2, really nice even with a stuffy non-stop runny nose.

pict0012-6.JPGWe mosied back to Duluth and took a harbor cruise on the Vista King, super nice weather and again, I got a much better understanding of the importance of Duluth as a shipping hub.  Pretty incredible examples of raw "industry" out in the harbor – huge grain towers, powdered cement storage, and an entire dock filled with enormous turbines for wind power.  Very cool, and we got to see the largest freighter on the lakes, the Paul Tregurtha. Oh, and Karen got a little trip down memory lane, since she worked for the Vista Fleet during her first smmer in Duluth as a college student. 

pict0117.JPGThen across the harbor into Wisconson for some more microbrews at the Thirsty Pagan — apparently they’ve been around since ’96 but we’d never heard of them!  Good beer, more cribbage, and we met someone who corrected a few of the rules we’d had to guess at.  But I was crashing fast so we headed to the room for a quick round of meds (and I power-napped on the floor) and back out.  We decided to do dinner at Karen’s old college haunt, Sir Benedict’s, where we had some delicious soup and sandwiches, free popcorn, and yet more cribbage.  For those keeping score at home, Karen was winning a lot early on, but I believe the final count for the week has me in the lead.

pict0128.JPGMonday morning we grabbed a quick breakfast at a local coffee shop, another of Karen’s former places of employment, then headed to the Brewhouse to fill a growler.  No fools, we decided to share a pint of their Cherry Ale – hey, it’s only served once a year!  pict0130.JPGWe took a quick spin up to Hawk Ridge and saw a few Sharp Shinned Hawks and got some up close views of a Kestral they had caught and banded just before we arrived.  Coooool.

And then… it was over!  I’m writing this on Karen’s laptop as we drive south on I-35, back towards life and reality — but with a few key differences from how we left it!  It’s been nothing like we planned, but it was actually really exciting to be able to improvise and re-plan so well, and still have such fun.

More soon, and we’ll try to set up a central place for wedding photos!

Who knew there was internet in the BWCA?

Posted by Karen in Travel, Weather, Wedding.
Wednesday, September 12th, 2007 at 8:22 pm


Whoa!  They’ve really upgraded this BWCA since the last time I was here!  Wireless internet and all! 

honeymoon_trail.JPGOk, fine… so we’re not technically in the BWCA.  We had a wonderful first day of our honeymoon Monday, a nice drive with some fun stops, including a little jaunt down Honeymoon Trail!  We had some sunshine and warmish temps.  We got to the outfitter mid-afternoon, got situated, and set up camp at a campground right on Sawbill Lake, our put-in point for the BWCA.  We took a growler of beer from Fitger’s Brewhouse that my brother Dean had given us along with leftover food from the wedding and found a great spot for a picnic down by the lake. 

That evening we read the weather report printed by the outfitters and were not excited.  A couple of hours after we went to bed, the rain started coming down and the winds really kicked up, to the point where I was a little worried about getting squished by a falling tree.  scared.JPGIn the morning we got our canoe, had a heck of a time getting it packed in the wind and rain, and put in.  We then spent the next half hour getting tossed about by 35 mile an hour wind gusts, soaked by waves, and utterly exhausted.  We fought valiantly and got about a third of a mile before having to pull to the shore.  We rested for a bit and decided to try to make another go at it, but this time we went nowhere, literally.  We managed to get out and decided to re-evaluate. 

We realized we weren’t going to get anywhere that day, and didn’t really want to waste a day just hanging out at the campsite.  And the weather report for the rest of the week was not looking much better – rain at some point almost every day, temps below freezing at night, wind, thunderstorms… and we decided that was not how we wanted to spend our honeymoon.  So feeling sad, traumatized, and exhausted, we took our canoe back, loaded up our gear, and hit the road, headed for Ely!  hotel.JPGWe spent last night at a lodge recovering in the hot tub, eating some of the tons and tons of camp food we had packed, and making a new plan.  Oh, and I all of a sudden like got a big fat cold, which made us a little extra glad to have made this decision and to not be portaging and paddling in the rain, unable to find dry wood to make a fire at night. 

wolf.JPGWe decided to spend another day and night in Ely, and so last night we got the most sleep we’ve had in months!  We visited the super-cool International Wolf Center today and did a little bit of exploring and hanging out, and for me, a lot of sniffling and sneezing.  Tomorrow we’ll be heading to Scenic State Park and staying at a cabin for a couple of nights.  Then on to Duluth according to the original plan.

We can’t help but be a little sad that we’re not having the trip we had envisioned, but we are still having a blast, and so excited just to have this time to hang out together and relive the glory and wonder that was our wedding! 

Holy update, batman!

Posted by Nate in Day to Day, Family, Friends, Work.
Thursday, August 9th, 2007 at 10:02 pm


Well, I finally remembered the password to the blog so I can update it (just kidding, we were just busy)…

j_bach1.jpgA belated picture from Justin’s baseball game bachelor party – he got to play a game on the field and had to try to throw balls past a goalie.  My only gripe with the Saints (hi, Cody!) is that their fabulous prizes are sometimes just medium.  Ah well, we tailgated and a good time was had by all!

veggies.jpgKaren and I are once again part of a CSA share – that’s Community Supported Agriculture.  We’re splitting the share with two friends, so we’re getting half – but believe me, it’s a lot.  Today, for instance: breakfast was CSA potatoes, green pepper, bought corn and onion and hot pepper, and friend’s tomato slices, lunch was slow-cooked cabbage and apples and spices, and so on.  Lots of veggies.

s_car.jpgSierra’s POS car finally died an ungraceful death.  I believe it’s been towed and donated as I type.  The brakes went out on her in rush hour traffic on the interstate.  Unreal.  There was just enough pressure she could slow by pumping the hell out of them…  Glad she’s safe, and glad that guy’s gone.  This shot is her getting the last of her stuff out after we abandoned it in front of someone’s house for the weekend.

brunoellie.jpgWe dog sat a beautiful white lab-ish dog from Nicaragua – via friends of Sierra but currently being minded by the Walshes while the friends hike the Appalachian Trail.  Wonderful dog, but shed an unbelievable amount of white fur.  Combined with Bruno’s we were vacuuming every other day – a terrible gray mixture of fluffy dog hair.  But she sure was cute!

s_challenge.jpgThe Mississippi River Challenge happened!  One of the most work-intensive weekends of my recent memory, combined with a lot of "hurry up and wait"…  At left is a shot of Sierra on night one describing how she’s going to attack the river tomorrow — lies, as it turned out…  phillips.jpgBut, hey, look at all those bottles!  Who could paddle fast after a night like that?  Well, look to the right:  these guys.  Steve and Jack and Trevor came in literally 10th out of … a lot of paddlers.  I know it’s not a race, but woo hoo!

kp_challenge.jpgAt left is Karen at the Fort laying down the law at the ID tent.  Nice walkie talkie…

And there you have it.  It’s been, how do you say…  busy.