Story Time!

So last Friday I went to East Knoxville elementary school to read to the 3^rd and 4^th grade classes there.  I took a few cultures of bacteria to show them. (Different pigmented phototrophs, some pigmented bacteria on plates, and some bioluminescent bacteria).  I read to them "living Sunlight"  and they enjoyed that and the props I brought in very much.  It was very exciting to see kids excited as much as these classes were about science.   They made me some super sweet thank you cards, which I have proudly posted outside my office for my co-workers to be jealous over. I think connecting with kids though this kind of program the school had going will go a long way to garnering a healthy interest in science and other professions for our future generations.    

 

"Tubes of microbial plants!

Bacteria can be pretty and grow in pretty shapes.

 

My awesome thank you card.

Complete with sweet autographs.

Repaired-Like New

I've had my favorite boots since about 1995. They've had thousands of hiking miles and climbing/mountaineering adventures on them. I got rained on, got snowed on, swam in (unwittingly), almost got struck by lightning in, suffered in, and enjoyed much of my entire scouting career in these boots, so they had some sentimental value to them as well. My soles were finally delaminating and falling apart, not to mention devoid of most of their tread, and I have to say they are pretty much like new now thanks to Pendergrass Family Shoe repair. Here's to 15 more years of outdoor adventures...thanks guys.

House Mtn.

Managed to salvage a few outdoors hours this weekend with ongoing home and lab/school work. House Mtn first ascent. Some pics in no particular order. Definitely going back if it snows again or when things start blooming in the spring.

Commuter Bliss

Many of my commutes over the years just blur right by. Some however, stand out in memory quite well. Tonight's commute was one of those. The snow was about 1-3 in deep over the entirety of the greenway and many but not all cases I was the first tracks of the night. The sky was filled to the brim with low clouds that reflected ambient light from the cityscape all around and thus I needed no artificial light source. The only sounds were my breathing and silence being broken by the gentle crushing of tires on fresh snow. With the consistency of the snow on the greenwyas I could maintain about 5-8mph in the corners and full speed on the straights. The one and only time I went down I forgot I was on the road where the snow had been packed down and was beginning to freeze. I mostly laughed at myself when I fell, made sure no one saw I needed to kill and went on my way lost in my two wheeled bliss. My new glove setup allowed my hands not to freeze and I layered perfectly and stayed toasty warm. Saw Joel riding home and that was about it for cyclists. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking...

































I met Abby at the Cedar Bluff Panera where I became well aquainted with a warm dinner and then we had some doughnuts in the parking lot for a few minutes. I imagine they will be even better come early morning when the lots are solid sheets of ice.