Friends and Family at Home!

Having our wanderlust well and truly satisfied with our recent adventures, we crammed a lot of activities at home with our loved ones this past week. (We need to get some "home time" in before next week when Nicole's little brother gets married in Idaho! )

Here was a group of friends we had over for dinner Friday doing Silly Faces, including said brother to be married and the girl giving him bunny-ears (his future wife):
That's right, I rocked the monocle smile. Same group, but with Seth switched in for Randy and without the shinanagins:
Here's Rebecca, soon to be in-law and her Kimono which I understand is associated with the impending nuptials. It's only fitting, rumor has it she got a samuri sword as part of the proposal...

Sunday my Grandmother and Aunt (and Brother) came over to play hearts. Tabitha Kathrine (the tabby cat) is playing my hand in this picture and not missing a trick!

Later, the animals got to meet some new friends as Tim Johnson and family visited (Tim not pictured). I trained Tim as a missionary in Ireland and it was good to see him.

Most impressive was the dessert he made -- Chocolate Spiders!

Homemade! Look at this detail. Good Job Tim!

(In between Friday and Sunday's guests, we titled our basement (almost done) finally! We actually placed half the titles tonight with some help from friends in the ward, one of which is defending her Master's Thesis tomorrow and having a baby on Saturday! Now that's a week. We'll post titling pictures soon.

Renaissance Fair(e)

CT adventures, part 6

On Columbus Day, we went to our first Renaissance Fair. In retrospect, comic-con was a good prep, there were a LOT of people in costumes and the lady who took our tickets greeted us in period apropriate language (and remarked that our horses must have been tired traveling from Utah).

It was kinda like a combination of play and historical education. For instance, here's a guy doing actual metal work (blacksmithing) with a real bellows (behind him in the picture):

I'm pretty sure the pirate costumes were mostly for the fun and less for the historical education:
But the girl with the sword slicing up a water jug, that's just cool in any century:I didn't quite fit into the period piece:

But I did win the hula hoop contest (it was just me and Nicole)

They had a parade with Pirates, Belly-dancers, Jousters, Wonderfool, and in this picture, looks like banits and an executioner. I've decided that a Renaissance Fair's success should be measured in the number of swords and sword-play it has:

Therefore, I judge this one a profound success!

This is now on my Christmas list. Imagine the uses!

10-10-10 Brent's Birthday Burger Buffet Bash

Today I celebrated my birthday in the state where I was born. As a friend who was also born on my birthday said "Today 10+10-10=29." To celebrate we had a burger bar. (Hamburgers are my favorite). Here's my menu and some pictures from the event:

10•10•10

Brent’s Best Birthday Burger Buffet

Breads Onion Rolls Potato Slider Rolls Classic Sliders Croissants Tortillas Wheat Portuguese Loaf	Cheeses Apple Smoked Cheddar Pesto Gouda Empire Pepper Jack Horseradish Cheddar Muenster Monterey Jack
Toppings Garden Fresh Tomatoes Roasted Red Pepper Organic Baby Bell Mushrooms Caramelized Onions Miniature Yellow Onions Jalapenos Pickles Petite Artichoke Hearts Green Peppers Crispy Romaine	Condiments Wasabi Mustard Spicy Chipotle Finishing Sauce Creamy Red Jalapeno Dressing Worchester Sauce Hunts Tomato Ketchup Mango Salsa Cranberry Honey Horseradish Spicy Honey Barbeque Sauce Sundried Tomato & Basil Hummus

Meats

Extra Lean Ground Beef

Smoked Bacon

Dessert

Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake

Drinks

A Variety of Gourmet Diet Selections

Suggested Combinations

Grilled Classic Garden Tomatoes Caramelized Onions Pickles Crispy Romaine Hunts Tomato Ketchup Smoked Cheddar Potato Slider Roll	Spike of Spice Spicy Chipotle Sauce Red Jalapeno Dressing Horseradish Wasabi Mustard Jalapenos Empire Pepper Jack Onion Roll	The Jungle Roasted Red Pepper Sundried Tomato & Basil Hummus Mango Salsa Apple Artichoke Hearts Horseradish Cheddar Onion Roll
Sweet Kick Tooth Cranberry Honey Barbeque Sauce Roasted Red Pepper Monterey Jack Tortilla	The whatsupi Wasabi Mustard Worchester Sauce Yellow Onions Pesto Gouda Wheat	Monsieur Monster Caramelized Onions Bell Mushrooms Green Peppers Muenster Croissant
The Four Elements Cranberry Honey Chipotle Sauce Baby Bell Mushrooms Caramelized Onions Artichoke Hearts Roasted Red Pepper Apple Smoked Cheddar Pesto Gouda Empire Pepper Jack Horseradish Cheddar Croissant	Garden of Eatin’ Mango Salsa Sundried Tomato & Basil Hummus Baby Bell Mushrooms Garden Tomatoes Roasted Red Pepper Artichoke Hearts Green Peppers Crispy Romaine Apple Smoked Cheddar Classic Slider	Top of the World Chipotle Sauce Horseradish Ketchup Bacon Yellow Onions Tomatoes Jalapenos Romaine Pesto Gouda Empire Pepper Jack Potato Slider

Nearly Boston -- In the Fall!

CT trip part 4

Well, we didn't quite make it to Boston this trip, but we did accomplish one of our goals -- New England in the Autumn! LEAVES! COLOR! CROMOSYNTHESIS! It's been 12 years since I've been here in the Fall and I wasn't just imagining it -- it's amazing. The pictures won't do it justice, but I'm posting them anyway:
A standard tri-color leaf:
We stopped at a random apple orchard we passed. It featured a dozen different kinds of apples and Nicole bought some Apple-smoked Cheddar that was amazing (but more on that later).
We found a State Park next to the art museum (there are tons around here, but lots smaller than the ones in Utah). This one had a nice hike around a lake.
But, GASP! there's a snake in the grass!
But we were able to escape and make it the rest of the way around the lake.
The End

The Rest of the Art Museum

CT trip part 4

Besides the Escher exhibit, the museum had some other stuff. For one, there's a lot of recycled art in Connecticut:
And pretty stuff hanging from the ceiling:
and stuff:
AND they had an exhibit on heroes from Pulp Novel (the precursors to Comic Books)
Doc Savage (above) and the Shadow and the Spirit below. Classics!

Escher, M. C. Escher

CT trip part 3

Hearing it was my birthday, the American Art Museum in New Britain, CT decided to feature one of my childhood favorite artists. Here's the entrance to the M. C. Escher exhibit:It had the classics
and some creative worlds
Here's some quotes:

And before Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons" Escher did this: (see it?!)

Fractals without computers!
And Snakes. And Infinity!
Another another world:
Also, a few days before he died he CARVED this: (it tessellates over the entire sphere!)

The rest are just creative and awesome tessellations that I couldn't resist putting up. Enjoy (I think if you click on them, they get bigger - via la artiste mathmatica)

Clark University

CT trip part 2

After the Victorian neighborhood of my childhood, Nicole and I hoofed it up to Worcester, MA. Apparently the area has the largest concentration of universities and colleges in the US. Our visit was to Clark University.

Clark's a neat combination of big research school and small liberal arts college. There's only 2500 students total (a 1/10th of BYU's population), but their Psych department is as big as ours. It's one of the schools I'm applying to this year. So far they've received 150 applications (they only have one open professorship position)!
A 101 years ago a professor at Clark (G. Stanley Hall, first president of the APA) invited Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung and, my favorite, William James [for those not in the know these are all famous people in psychology). It was the only time Freud lectured in America. So they built a statue:
I hear that Siggie was actually a bit smaller in real life.

Oh, Nicole thought that their library looked reminiscent of a Star Wars AT-AT Imperial Walker:

Fantastik Victoriana

Connecticut Escapades Part 1

We visited the town where I grew up on Thursday, our first stop back east and continuing the last entry's theme of Victorian-esque. Here's a handful of pictures we took around the neighborhood. Many of these were corners where my bus stop was. Fantastic memories, but I have a hard time settling into a non-Victorian neighborhood now. But that's not why I'm applying to jobs in New England (well, not the only reason). Enjoy!