Haven't Posted in a While!

Wow! I didn’t realize that I hadn’t posted since February 6^th until I logged on to post my Happy St. Patrick’s Day post! So, what have we been up to?

Mike’s been studying – A LOT. I’ve been working. It’s a good thing that he has been studying too, because they decided to save the Physic’s program! So we are safe!

We’ve been playing a lot of Rock Bank on our neighbor’s Nintendo Wii. So now, Mike plays guitar and fake Rock Band guitar! But it’s a lot of fun.

For my mom’s birthday we went up to Coeur d’Alene for the day. It was absolutely beautiful! I would recommend visiting there to anyone. We had lunch at the Coeur d’Alene resort, up on the 7^th floor overlooking the lake, it was so nice. I’ve only been in the winter, so we are going to try and head up there sometime this summer so we can actually use the lake.

I went to a lot of University of Idaho Basketball games, both men’s and women’s. Last year both of our teams where really bad. But this year they got new coaches and turning things around. They both were picked by the preseason coaches’ poll to finish last in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), but they both finished 3^rd. So it was a lot of fun going to watch a team who was actually winning a game now and then. And the men’s coach is actually from the Auburn area, and went to Del Oro High School, which was our big high school rival. I had read that he actually coached at my high school while I was there but I don’t remember him.

My mom and I volunteered at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival one day. That was a lot of fun, but boy I was TIRED after that. During the days, schools come and perform and compete and then they are critiqued by other professional musicians. It’s just an amazing opportunity for elementary, high school, and college performers. They have workshops all week. At our site, mid-sized high school’s jazz bands were performing. Since my musical ability consists of playing Rock Band, I’m so amazed when any group can string a few notes together a

nd I can recognize it as music. Lots of fun! And we went and some Brazilian and Cuban jazz performed by the professionals at one of the main performance. So much fun!

So, that’s pretty much what we’ve been up to. Oh, last Friday I saw a lecture by Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, John Roberts. Well, I sorta saw it. I was in an overflow room watching it on the screen because the main lecture hall was already full. That was pretty cool! Getting to see current Chief Justice here at the University of Idaho… unbelievable for this politics/history junky. That's him and President Obama 'redoing' the Oath of Office.

Hope everyone is doing well! I may have some news next week as well! (Not baby news, just life in general!) -- Niki & Miki

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day – A day late!

Our St. Patrick’s Day started in true Idaho fashion, it snowed! Now, as a California girl it is hard for me to accept that we could have a white St. Patrick’s Day, at least most of the snow melted by the afternoon. Mike is on Spring Break this week, and since we are old and I have to work, he spring break has consisted of computer games, laundry, cooking dinner, and cleaning the house. Poor Guy!! But I am sooooooo very thankful.

Growing up, St. Patrick’s Day was always a pretty big deal for Mike’s family. Not only did it involve green clothing, but it mean corned beef & cabbage for dinner. Guess it has something to do with being Irish. So, I have had to learn how to cook corned beef and cabbage, I’ve had my successes and failures over the years so yesterday was a little bit nerve racking. Mike started the brisket yesterday, I rushed home and pealed potatoes and carrots and got those started.

We had some of our neighbor’s over for dinner. Our friend Jeremy had never had corned beef and he was a little bit hesitant because he thought just based on the name it sounded pretty awful. It turned out great though! Nice and tender, I guess the slow cooker method was a good idea after all. So, we sat, enjoyed our corned beef & cabbage (well, some of us did, I’m not a huge cabbage eater!), listened to some Celtic Music had a couple of Guinness Pints and had a really nice evening.

Hope yours was good as well!

What No Physics???

Mike and I moved to Moscow, ID so he could attend the University of Idaho and study Physics. Why did we choose Idaho? Well, part of it had to do with finding somewhere with a lower cost of living so Mike wouldn’t have to work, part of it was because we both kinda wanted out of the suburbs, part of it was because we wanted a slower pace of life and less stress, and then when we actually came to visit the campus we just fell in love. Did Mike seriously evaluate the physics program, well, a little bit. He compared it to a few different schools that we looked at and felt like this was the best one. Did we compare the U of I to all other schools, no.

We had thought, with the economy tanking, that we were safe here in our little student world (well, besides our 401K’s being decimated like everyone else’s, that is). Turns out we were wrong, the University is struggling too. So, they decided they needed to cut or consolidate programs. They released the first round of suggestions and sure enough the BS and BA in Physics are included…

So my question is, who heard of school without a Physics Program??? They are planning to keep the PhD program, but not the Bachelor’s degrees, how does that work? I just don’t get it at all?? Is that a question we should have asked when we were evaluating whether or not to come here, “So, will the University be cutting out the Physics program in the next couple of years?” That thought never even occurred to us.

We won't know until April what the final decisions are and even if they do cut the program, it will be phased out so Mike will still be able to finish his B.S. But it is still really frustrating. Will professors be looking for other positions since they know their jobs will be ending soon? If they are looking for other positions, will they really be giving their current classes their full attention?

On the upside, they are definitely keeping the PhD program. So that will still be an option for Mike after he gets his B.S. assuming they don't decide to cut the PhD program later. Which, I don't see why they would do as the Physic's program brings in grant and research money.

Snowy Inspiration

Last week a friend of my mom’s past away. Donna lost her battle with cancer, like so many others we all know. What was so interesting to me were the memorial services. My mom moved to a very small town in Washington State last September. Kinda almost makes Foresthill (where I grew up) look big, which I didn’t even know was possible. This friend of hers had lived there for 48 years and she had a lot of family in the immediate area.

With all of this, the funeral was held in a little church in town, and it was standing room only. After the very short services at the church we made our way to the cemetery for the graveside service. It was snowing – a lot – that day. So here we are this big group of people, trudging across the cemetery to say our final goodbyes. I didn’t know my Mom’s friend all that well, but I wanted to be there with my mom. I think being removed from the deceased person, I had a whole different perspective on the services.

I was thinking about how absolutely beautiful it was outside, there was white covering everything, the trees, the ground, the other headstones. It seemed so peaceful. I was thinking about how nice it was that there were so many people braving the elements to be there. Then my brother says “you she’s just up there laughing at all of us” referring to the sight it must have been watching everyone tromp through the snow freezing our tails off. And I thought, if it were me, yah I’d probably be laughing too.

I've never really considered burial as an option, I've always leaned towards cremation myself. But if you have to be buried, -- on a snowy hill, surrounded by pine trees covered in snow, and with so many friends and family surrounding, that would be alright I guess. Hopefully I've got a long time to really worry about that ... but this weekend, my thoughts were with you Donna and with your family as well.

Beethoven and Brahms

Living in a small town has some disadvantages, minimal shopping, not a whole of entertainment opportunities, however, living in a small town with a University sure helps lessen those disadvantages. Mike and I were feeling like we needed some culture in our lives so last night we attended a Faculty Recital at the Lionel Hampton School of Music here at the University. Three professors have come together to form the Kennard Trio. They played the Piano, the Violin, and the Cello. The program included Beethoven’s Piano Trio in C-Minor, Op. 1, No. 3 and Johannes Brahms’ Clarinet Trio, Op. 114. Ok, so now that I’ve basically just copied information out of the program, since I really have no idea what Op. 1, No. 3 means… let me tell you it was so much fun!

It was just in a cool 1970’s style recital hall, with some seriously dated seating, but for someone who know nothing about classical music it was just beautiful. I kept closing my eyes and trying to figure out which sound was the violin and which sound was the cello. Mike really liked it too, but since he’s actually taken Music Theory courses, he knew a little bit more about it that I did.

I think we are going to try and continue to add a little ‘culture’ to our lives. Next week we are going to go to a guitar recital. Mike’s really excited about that one. And I decided to volunteer at Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival that’s going on here in February. The Jazz Festival is a really big deal here in our little town. Not only do they get some big performances, but kids from all over come for the conference. Last year I had to travel to San Diego for a last minute work trip so I missed it completely so I’m really excited to be here this year for it. And of course, with volunteering your get tickets to the shows so I can’t wait!