Space for Rent

Cozy space for rent on Kroeber Walk. Great views of the living room and stairs area. Short bike ride to campus.
Applicant must be 5'6'' or shorter and have a sunny disposition. Must love kids and doing dishes. The right applicant will have at least five older sisters and have recently returned from studying in Chile. Bedtimes stories about your encounters with penguins a plus.

Thanksgiving highlights

I know it is almost Christmas, but here are some pictures I liked from that other holiday.

Theory of Travel Toy Relativity

Not all toys are equal, especially when it comes to traveling by air. Some are not sufficiently entertaining to justify the space they consume in the carry-on luggage. Some are only slightly entertaining, but because of their size, worth having as an option.
In this holiday travel season, herein lies my newest theory. The theory of Travel Toy Relativity. Each toy gets a score for weigh/space and a score for amount of projected time (based on past observation) that they might entertain a toddler in a confined space. Extra points if these items are disposable. All toys that fall beneath the 1:1 ratio line are given a chance at a spot in the bag.

My best items on our recent trip was asking for extra cups from the beverage cart. We stacked them up pyramid style, moved pennies from one to another, and then tossed them.

Do you have any favorite travel toys?

Puerto Rico Photography Class

We voted a long time ago that our family photographer was going to be Vivian, not me. And I submit this blog as evidence that we made a good decision. I've never taken a photography class and generally don't know what I'm doing.  But when I've got a camera in hand and a little free time I can't help but tinker with it (is it the engineer in me?  I don't know.  Maybe it is the kid in me... Levi likes to push buttons too, right?). 

Since I'm pretty determined to never take any classes ever again in my life, I probably will never take a photography class. But I'd still like to turn in some assignments from time to time, so here are two projects I was tinkering with while we were in Puerto Rico.

The first is a long exposure of a stream in the puerto rican jungle.

The second is more of a photoshop project.  I took a bunch of pictures of the beach (Note: this is the beach that is one block from Carrie's home), and with a magic photoshop tool I was able to stitch them together into one panorama image.  Here are my two attempts.  I've been told that grades don't matter once you're in grad school, so feel free to leave me my grades for the projects in the comments.