Happy 1 year Adrienne Faith!

Zach and Heather's little strawberry turned 1 this week!
(she's our niece...Heather is Sharon's sister...just for any new blog readers out there)
In this picture she's VERY excited about her 1 year old pig-tails.
June 26th was the big day a year ago we were all blown away by the red-headed addition to our family.
She's a joy and we wish she lived a few time zones closer!
Until we see her next time, you all will just have to put up with us bragging on her via the internet.
Happy Birthday Adrienne!
We love you!

Cara Package...

No that's not misspelled.

My best friend Cara C. future DDM (is that the right abbreviation?) sent us a care package.

Tony Chachere's tastes MUCH better on meat than any local curry ever could.

And then what about all that cute stuff from Honduras?

She loves world traveling as well but usually sticks to Spanish-speaking countries because, well, she speaks Spanish.

And she's way cute when she speaks it too.

Thanks Cara for being a great bff and spending your denero to send us stuff from home (and from Honduras too!)

Bali, Indonesia

Our week in Bali (at a conference) was mostly spent learning how we could live better as 'foreigners' in other countries...
we met a lot of new white people that live away from home too...
it was fun...
although the Floridian part of us (which by 'part' I mean 'all')
would have loved to have had the "Healthy Living Overseas" seminar and others like it outside.
By the pool.
Or the beach.
Either would have been fine.
It's ok though, we had a great time.

The Hotel had these nifty rugs in the elevators so you could know what day it was.
They helped so much!
Monday it was a bit cloudy...but the view from our room was amazing
The mountain back there is actually a volcano...(we're about 85% sure that's a fact...still cool looking even if it's not)

Tuesday was a bit cloudy and cooler than we expected Bali to be.
We were in the Southern Hemisphere so it was technically "winter"
but we still got out to the beach later in the afternoon...There was so much coral on the beach...
That's my (Sharon) foot... if you know me well you know I have size 9 feet...
Coral as big as my feet is pretty cool....and there were tons of pieces all over...
Wednesday it rained.
Boo.
And no, I'm not a monk now...that's a gorgeous pashmina wrap that the wonderful Mrs. Linda Clark gave me before I left the states...it came in so handy this week!
Wednesday wasn't all a wash...our friend Wally really enjoyed eating the flan after not having any for several months.

Thursday we all had the afternoon free .
So we went snorkeling.
The water was clearer than we thought it was gonna be and the reef had a great variety of things to see...Here's us after snorkeling.
They always like you to check the gear before you get in.
Mask suction? Check.

Friday we forgot to take a picture of the rug.
Oh well, apparently we didn't take ANY pictures on Friday...
Let's skip it then and just go to...
We didn't really do a whole lot...although I think we hurried our lunch and got a few minutes by the pool.Sunday the conference was over, but our flight didn't leave until the evening.
We were not disappointed.

K5 and I chillin' by the pool (she has a genetic edge on the whole tanning process)
It was great fun, but we are glad to be back home.
Home and slightly more bronzed of course.

The Physics Corner

with Professor A. Joseph Rivers, Ph.Don't

A brief tutorial, with a case study to follow.

THE LAW OF MOMENTUM CONSERVATION

In a collision between two objects, both objects experience forces which are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. Such forces cause one object to gain momentum and the other object to lose momentum. According to Newton's third law, the forces on the two objects are equal in magnitude. While the forces are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction, the acceleration of the objects are not necessarily equal in magnitude. In accord with Newton's second law of motion, the acceleration of an object is dependent upon both force and mass. Thus, if the colliding objects have unequal mass, they will have unequal accelerations as a result of the contact force which results during the collision.

CASE STUDY:
The Law of Momentum Conservation in Real World Applications

Lets observe the physics of collision between objects of unequal mass. Two objects are needed for this experiment. First, a Toyota Hiace with a height of 1980mm (1.98m, 6.496063ft). See figure 1a below.

Figure 1a

Second, a fire sprinkler; i.e., the part of a fire sprinkler system that discharges water when the effects of a fire have been detected, such as when a predetermined temperature has been reached. See illustration v8 following. This object has far less mass than the Hiace and is an excellent object to demonstrate the unequal acceleration as a result of the contact force which results during a collision.

Illustration v8.

The venue for this study should be a vehicular parking structure composed of several floors with a posted ceiling height not to exceed 2m (6.5616798ft), as this will accommodate the height of the Toyota Hiace, allowing a clearance of 20mm (0.78740157in) . To ensure proper results, the vehicular parking structure must also have an area with a ceiling height below the posted 2m (6.5616798ft) height, with no signage indicating that this particular area is in fact shorter than the rest of the area. See diagram 867.5309 following.

Diagram 867.5309.

You are now ready to proceed with the experiment. To ensure results which are verifiable, it is advisable to have 4 other participants inside the Hiace to accompany you. Also, make sure to attempt this experiment with this safety precaution in mind: conduct the experiment while leaving the vehicular parking structure as opposed to entering; this will help you avoid unwanted interference and variables intruding from the outside environment.

Park the Hiace so that the rear is approximately 6m (19.685039ft) from the sprinkler head. Place the vehicle in reverse, accelerating toward the sprinkler head. Reach approx. 5km/h (3.1069444mph) and continue until sounds of metal crunching together indicate that you have made contact with the sprinkler head. When you hear the sound, stop Hiace, then pull forward. Observe how the object with larger mass (Hiace) completely destroys the object with smaller mass (sprinkler). Exit vehicle for further inspection, ignoring the laughter coming from the other participants. Be careful when observing: large volumes of water will exit the overhead pipe. Do not attempt to measure the volume of the water as it is certainly unmeasurable. To complete this experiment, quickly exit the parking structure, informing the parking attendant on the bottom floor that there is a situation which needs immediate attention on level P3. This last step is crucial, as it will assuage any guilt incurred upon the one conducting said experiment.

Pink Mosque...

On Saturday we went with Justin and Daniela to the 'administrative capital' of our country. We've been there a couple times before, but this was the first time we actually got to enter the grounds of the Pink Mosque there (the dome at the top gives it it's nickname) before when we've gone it's been too close to a prayer time. Since we are non-Muslim and our heads weren't covered we had to don these pepto-bismal pink robes. I can't decide if we look more like members of a choir that have really bad taste in robe colors, or a more feminine version of Jedi Knights.
We also ended up downtown again, so instead of taking pictures of some of the tallest buildings in the world, we bring you the fountains in front of some of the tallest buildings in the world...

Man Day

I love that I was born in 1980. I love that I've never known a time apart from electricity. I have no grudge against technology, other than it might be heating up the planet a bit. I like that I can drink coffee without hours of back-breaking labor. I can't farm. I kill houseplants regularly and in record-time. I love my Mac and iTunes and my car and my air conn and ice cubes and medicine and a million other things peculiar to our time. I live on the other side of the world from most people I know. You know how long it took to get here? 30 hours. HOURS. Not years, not months, not days. I don't even know what scurvy is, let alone have a fear of it from being caged in a wooden boat for 4 months crossing the Pacific.

With that said, there's so much we can learn from the past. For one thing, we no longer have rites of passage. You know, like slappin' mud on a 13 year old, sending him off in the woods and not letting him come back til he's killed something large and edible. It sounds barbaric, but at least a kid knew what was expected of him when he reached manhood. Nowadays, childhood sorta lazily flows into adolescence, which may or may not morph into manhood around the late 20s.

That's why I appreciate what I was allowed to participate in this past weekend. K2 turned 13, so we had a "man day." No women. Just older men eating together, go-karting and sharing advice.

Here's the present I gave K2:

You can't bring a present with curly bows and wrapping paper to man day. A plastic bag and duct tape - that's all you need. And yes, I am driving a manual with my left hand.

When we got to the go-kart track, we drew straws to determine our order off the starting line. K2 got automatic pole position cause it was his birthday.


And I got the shortest straw...


...but like any real man, I sucked it up and moved from last to 3rd due to my mad kart skills and two people spinning out in front of me.

Waiting in the pits like manly men...


After racing we headed off to dinner. Here's K2 eating meat...


...from this...


That would be a fish head. Just a fish head. There's not much that's more manly than knowing how to eat a fish head.

During dinner we all shared our "manly" advice with K2. Papa D asked us to write out a letter to K2 sharing our "wisdom." Here's Papa D reading his...

Of course, all this seriousness led to noogies...

...cause men can only be serious and sentimental for so long.

After dinner we went for ice cream. Here's K2 tackling his double cone...


...and here's the last man group shot of the night...