Snow

   Well it finally snowed.

   There used to be steps leading up to my front door. Today the snow was the same height as the top step. I went outside to start digging my car out but decided that, because the snow was as deep as the hood of my car, I'd wait to see if my apartment building has snow removal elves that do it for me. I'm glad I waited. I only swept off the snow that was on top of my car. I went back outside around 3:30 and most of the snow was removed. I only had to shovel around my car tires. One of my teachers drove by as I was shoveling and honked, laughed, and waved. I drove around the block to make sure I was able to get out. Hopefully I don't have a problem getting to school in the morning now. 

   We have a Christmas dinner at school tomorrow. Not sure what will be served, but the Thanksgiving dinner was really good. Don't worry, Tootie, I'll only eat the green beans with no butter or salt.... NOT. 

   My friend from school, Sherwayne, invited me to The Hive in Kennebunk last Thursday to see a pottery demonstration. The Hive is an art gallery/cafe/studio that recently opened up. I met the girl who was hired to basically run the place. Her name is Rachel (not in any of the pictures). The guy who owns the place opened it up for something to do. He hasn't been around for the past two months, though, because the poor guy is currently buying a new 90 foot yacht and has to go pick it up from the Mediterranean. So Rachel has thrown these events together and it's a really really neat place. Sherwayne and I watched the demonstration and then went upstairs to the gallery and bar part to watch open mic night. One girl got up to play guitar and sing who had never performed in front of people before. She was very good. 

    Sherwayne and I went back the next night to listen to a jazz trio. SO GOOD. So talented. I don't think the guy playing the double bass opened his eyes once because he was so into the music. And the singer, Hattie, was fantastic. I told my friend from school, Laura, about her later that night and Laura knows her from work. I found out that Hattie is only 17 years old.

  

Here is a sample if you want to hear. I really liked her up-beat, faster paced songs but I can't find a good one on youtube to share:

Hattie Simon

   I really like The Hive, so I'll be going back there to visit often. 

   I got a new project at school to work on. We were given an 11.1 meter sailboat to do a parametric study on. We had to look at the values given for the sail area, keel area, length over all vs. the length at the waterline, the displacement, the volume to keel area ratio, the draft of the canoe body and draft overall, and a whooooole lot of other stuff that we've learned. We then had to decide if the values were in the right ballpark for what this boat is meant to do. It is a cruising boat that is not meant for racing but can still perform well in light wind with six passengers. I changed a few things. Any boat experts out there will notice that the shape of the hull isn't correct (among other things) just by looking at the pictures below. I am not sure what our next step will be in the assignment, but I am guessing we will fix the design however we see fit and then add an interior arrangement including an appropriately sized rudder, engine, propeller, mast, plumbing and electrical arrangements, etc. 

   This is our final project for this semester... but I don't know when the end of the semester is. End of January or February? So I'll keep posting updates about this project. After this sailboat project I am hoping we will finally move onto powerboats!

I probably won't post again for a few weeks. I get to come home for Christmas in 6 days! I haven't seen Tag, Rocco, or Jon since August.... I don't think? I've seen Mom, Dad, Kelly, and Sammi..... And Devin and his whole family! haha. 

So I am excited to see my three brothers again. 

   I got back to Iowa during Thanksgiving break. It was awesome to see Devin again. I stayed with him during break and spent Thanksgiving with his family. He took me out to shoot guns on one of the days. I haven't shot a gun for a while... since, like, the bb guns at Camp Foster. So above is a picture of our wounded target after we were done shooting. I say "wounded" and not "dead" because we never actually hit the center of the target. Devin still had to sight the shotgun.... so that is our excuse. 

Can you see the target in the distance in this picture?

Do I look like I know what I am doing? Devin had to take this picture and then come stand behind me because I wasn't used to the kick. I may have let out a little scream as I shot and fell backwards.... and had a bruise on my arm the next day. But it was a lot of fun and I laughed a lot.... and I think Devin was maybe laughing at me.

But I did hit the target and made it fall over!

   Devin and I drove back to Des Moines and went through Ames to pick up Kelly to go out for dinner. Dad surprised me by bringing Sammi to Ames. I WAS SO HAPPY. I didn't want to say bye to Sammi after dinner so Devin let her stay with us that night.

Worst. Idea. Ever.

   This is what we got to deal with until bedtime. Throw the ball. But there wasn't anywhere to throw it further than five feet.

   I got back to Kennebunkport late Sunday night. The town was decorated for Christmas when I returned. So I took some pictures. This giant tree is in Dock Square. Did I post a picture of this in my last blog post already? Oh well. Its ornaments are lobster buoys and the star on top is held by a lobster. Kennebunkport is rated as the 2nd best place to visit in the country for Christmas festivities. There was a Christmas Prelude this weekend that I went to. It had a bunch of events going on including an ugly hat contest, craft fairs, food sampling, and the main event: The Tree Lighting Ceremony. 

Following are some pictures from the ugly hat contest:

Leg lamp hat:

Goose hat:

The Grinch and that Who girl:

Here is the video of the tree lighting. I couldn't get a good shot of how many hundreds of people were there because it was so dark. But it was a big event. The mayor gave a speech and had us count down from 39 which is the number of years they've been doing this tree lighting tradition. I started filming when we finally got to the 10 second countdown. Now the tree will remain lit until Christmas.

   So that's it. My fish are still doing well. Still alive. I'll be home for Christmas in two weeks :)

   I have a day and a half of school before I get to go to the airport and fly back to Iowa. This is exactly how I am going to feel at school because I am so excited for a break! Everything is still going well at school. I have an assignment due on Tuesday before I leave, so I went in today to finish it because I know I won't want to worry about it tomorrow night. 

   The weather has been like Iowa lately... hot one day and freezing the next. Last week it was so nice one of the days that I got to go to the beach in a t-shirt. The very next day students saw snow flurries on their way to school. 

   We had a guy, Douglas, come talk to us about Japanese boat building last week. He has had five apprenticeships in Japan and the stories he told were fascinating. For example, he said there wasn't a terrible language barrier during his first apprenticeship because there wasn't any talking allowed in the shop. The boats are handmade by Douglas and the master. Douglas had to observe while sweeping the floors for months until one day the master finally handed him a chisel and expected him to know what to do. It sounded just like Karate Kid. There are no drawings or dimensions or instructions on how to build the boats because there is so much secrecy behind it. Only the master has that stuff memorized. 

  Here is Douglas' site: Douglas Brooks Boatbuilding.

These are some of the tools and materials they use. I don't know what they are. 

   Okay. I tried making pancakes for breakfast. I decided it would be a good idea to make one giant pancake rather than a bunch of small ones. I didn't like the idea that if I made small pancakes, the first ones would get cold by the time I was done making the rest. So one giant pancake was the way to go. 

Nope.

   It is impossible to flip a giant pancake to the other side. At least I didn't have to cut it, right? It still tasted just fine. 

   Kennebunkport put up the huge Christmas tree in Dock Square this weekend. I didn't see it being put up. I know they'll decorate it too. Maybe they are going to do that right after Thanksgiving. I'll get some nice photos of it when it is. I actually ventured out into the cold today JUST to take this picture of the tree for you people reading this. And then, Kelly, I RAN back home. 

   Sorry I've been lacking with good pictures of what I've been up to. I'll try to get some good shots of my break with Devin and his family this week. Oh, by the way, my pancake mess today was good... but not anywhere close to Karen's pancakes with the pecan syrup. Can I put in a request for that? :)

   And here is a stupid (poor quality) video of my fish. Mrs. Black is always trying to show off for me... as you can see in this video.

Grandma... if you click the 4-corner box in the bottom right corner of the video it makes the video bigger.

New Fish Tank

   Last week at school we were learning about metals and their properties... How they are treated, yield strength, stiffness,  etc. I learned about this stuff at ISU, so it felt good to know what was going on. We took different shaped pieces of aluminum and put them in this machine to pull the aluminum apart until it broke. I did this at 3M last summer to test the strength of some new materials they had made.... so I knew that there would be a loud BOOM when the aluminum finally broke. I didn't like it haha. So much anticipation building until it snaps... like a scary movie. Ugh. We also tested fiberglass

   I went on a long walk yesterday. I'm still exploring my town. My walk wasn't on a trail (still haven't figured out how to get to the Eastern Trail), but I walked down random roads in my neighborhood and looked at the cool old houses in the woods. I walked along the harbor and saw this well behaved dog laying in the parking lot while his owner did maintenance on a boat. Our dogs would NEVER be that obedient. 

   I finally got a new tank for my fish. I love it and I think the fish like it a lot more too. So I tried taking more pictures of them. Still difficult. I have only named one of the fish. Kelly recommended the name Forrest. So I named the one with black fins Forrest because he looks different than the other two and likes to hang out alone. He's pretty cool. I still haven't named the other two. 

I got a couple shots of Mrs. Black, too!

   Tomorrow TLS is having a Thanksgiving lunch for the students followed by a presentation by a guy, Douglas Brooks, who knows all about Japanese wooden boats. Sounds interesting.


Happy Birthday to Devin and Kelly. I love you both!

Thanks for letting Devin have your ISU basketball ticket, Kelly. If I was in Ames tonight I'd rather be hanging out with you than standing in a cold, wet line all day with Devin. :)