tree time

christmas tree joy is back! just like years past, we bagged our own christmas tree (take that, home depot!). we went to hann's tree farm yesterday, where we sampled hot cider, chatted with mr. and mrs. claus, and brought home a beautiful frasier fir. the tree farm is big and well organized. we spent a lot of time cruising the rows of trees, breathing deeply in the pine-laden air, and discussing the merits of the spruce, pine, and fir.

we've always gone with the scotch pine, but this year the frasier fir won. quite the victory for the friendly fir.

with tree in hand, we climbed aboard the hann's tree farm public transportation system of tractor and trailor.

when we got the tree home, we fired up the hot drinks and enlisted the help of a tiny feline light inspector. she did an excellent job.

behold the frasier fir, dressed in its holiday finest.

and you thought your family was weird

thanksgiving with the scotts is full of the traditional trappings of thanksgiving. we had turkey. we argued sometimes. there was pumpkin pie.

there were group dog walking adventures. (people were shooting deer in the neighborhood that day, so we wore some orange to stay safe).

the less traditional parts of our thanksgiving included a personality test. my dad took a personality test at work and enjoyed it, so he brought it home for everyone to take. here are david's and my results.

david is an adaptable man of action.

i am a supportive, reasonable individual.


who knows what it means? i think this pie chart is supposed to help.

here's the whole clan, different personalities intact.
and, just for the sake of comparison, here is the clan in 1989.

the great flood

our good friend matt k. is a water resource management guru, and he happened upon this photo in a round table discussion entitled "lessons from a 100 year flood event."

this was taken several years ago (july, 2006) when i was in graduate school and the nmr facility flooded during a massive flash flood. it was a pretty wild experience. this photo was acutally taken after the water had receded a few inches. my job was to keep the drain in the bathroom behind me flowing and free of debris. it was kinda gross.

here are some other photos of the epic storm:

h2o flowing in from the ceiling of the nmr facility


going up?

several million dollars of computers and nmr spectrometers

the rains on library mall

parking lot on campus

beltline

happy thanksgiving

enjoy the turkey.

snow!

snow makes me happy, and i'm happy this morning. we woke up to a fresh blanket of snow outside our bedroom window. here are some photos (snapped with a previously destroyed camera which we still keep around as back up).

hit it, bing!

technical difficulties

we got our camera back from the olympus warranty repair. i turned it on, and it immediately jammed, just like it was when we sent it in. this is the third time we've had this problem in two months. we are very displeased with olympus right now.

jack white?

no, that red and white clad guitar god isn't jack white, it is none other than mbd.

he and his fellow members of los krankenhausers (formerly known as the benjy moffatt experience) played a killer set in the basement of the glass nickel last night to celebrate cecely's birthday. a great time was had by all in attendance. happy birthday cecely.

the best way to solve a problem?

there must be a more straight forward way to solve an economic crisis than this. right?


what does this room get used for when there isn't a world economic forum going on?

everybody's workin' for the weekend

winners!

we bested our previous best finish. splinter cell was in third place after the first round, came from behind in the second round to be in 1st after regulation, and then answered the final question correctly to take home the grand prize gift certificate at dexter's pub trivia night this evening.

believe me, we are riding high. this win is for you emily. league play starts next month and we are feeling ready.

hug a nurse practitioner

guess what. it's national nurse practitioner week. the united states house of representatives has set aside the second week of november as national nurse practitioner week.

here is my favorite nurse practitioner in an advertisement found in wisconsin woman magazine.

more and more folks are choosing nurse practitioners as their partner in health because, in addition to providing high-quality primary, acute and specialty health care, nurse practitioners empower patients to maintain and improve their health by providing individualized and comprehensive health education and counseling. so say thanks or give a big thumbs up to any nurse practitioners you happen upon this week.

cheeky?

check out the italian films netflix is recommending for us. (click on image to enlarge).


what about il postino and cinema paradiso makes netflix think we like movies about italian ladies' derriers? interesting. or, converserly, why do italians have so many cheeky movies on netflix?

good bye, emily

we said good bye to emily this weekend. she's moving to the bay area tomorrow, and we will miss her. our trivia team, splinter cell, will never be the same.

be brave, emily. be brave.

zinc

i don't think i had enough food in my stomach this morning when i took 2 zinc supplements. now i feel pretty nauseous.

broken camera....again

this is not actually our camera. i can't take a picture of our camera, because it is broken, again. this is the same lens malfunction as last time. we'll be sending it in to be fixed again. hopefully they will send us a new camera instead of this same defective one. until then, we will have to use pictures off the interwebs to demonstrate the daily minutia of our lives. well, time for breakfast.

3rd place

our trivia team (eric, laurel, demian, emily, marta, and i), splinter cell, had our best finish to date at dexter's pub's trivia night. we were in first place the whole night, but then fell into third when we missed the final question.

• q: what is the most populace u.s. state capital?

• a: phoenix (not atlanta)

i take most of the responsibility for leading us astray on the final question. why did i think flagstaff was the capital of arizona? next week, we will be back, looking to improve our standing even more, and it looks like the first pitcher will be free. you know the saying, "to the 3rd place finisher goes the spoils."

november in madison

things are good.

first black first lady

At the Show: The Lady Tigra [Obama-rama in Spaceland] - "First Black, First Lady" from Spaceland Recordings on Vimeo.

yes we can!

paul bunyan room

on our way out of the memorial union this saturday, we strolled through the paul bunyan room. the walls are adorned by paintings depicting the life of paul bunyan. i've seen them before, but this time their awesomeness really struck me

babe the blue ox

rough and tumble at the logging camp

rally concert

three members of wilco, one of our favorite bands, came to town on saturday. no drums, no oriental rug, no movie projector (all of which are staples at their live shows), but lots of good tunes.

here is a little snippet of an excellent song, "what light."


also, check out their cover of dylan's "i shall be released." it's great, and it's free on their website if you promise to vote. go here.

tammy baldwin and russ feingold were there too. tammy even gave david a hug on the terrace.