Snow Falling on UM

So, there was recently a small flurry of white stuff falling on campus. Like what fell last night, this did not stick. But is this the start of the winter? (Answer: of course it is, you dope! Autumn is the doorstep into winter; the START of winter, if you will.)

Snow on the ground.

Okay, so there wasn't a lot of snow that stayed on the ground by the time I got to the bus stop at 9:20 this morning. However, there is likely to be more tonight.

Currently, the temperature is a nice (!) 37F, but - with the wind - apparently feels like 25F. With the sun out, I think that this weather is really NICE! Ahh... Autumn - the hopefully-slow decline into winter.

I noticed one thing while waiting for the bus this morning: people do really odd things while driving in their cars. I know that this is something that shouldn't be too difficult for me to realize, but it just struck me as odd. There was one person driving with one hand, while shading her eyes with the other, driving along at 40mph, apparently mostly blinded by the sunlight reflecting off the slick road. Another person was blithely (blindly) driving along at a similar clip while applying lip gloss while looking into the rearview mirror. (Apparently, she felt that looking intently into the mirror would save her from the blinding rising sun while driving eastward.

Well, enough of that for now. I expect to have more snow photos tomorrow (I might actually post them as well).

SNRE Campfire

The 2006 SNRE Campfire went off without too much of a hitch. Things got to a slightly late start, but there was a well-attended water relay race, followed by 16 cross-cut saw teams. Because Burt didn't do his schpiel this year, Jim put together a presentation. I felt that it was a good first try, but needs a few more iterations before reaching perfection.

I was surprised that no one other than me decided to actually feed the fire (after all, this was SUPPOSED to be a campfire event). Still, in the end, it was "all good". The hotdogs were plentiful. The desserts were tasty. The company was all good. And photos were taken...

Josh, Jay, Oracha, Yuka, and Tong

Hans fights off Sara's attempts of scuttling his waders.

Damon and Solomon attempt to beat their previous cross-cut sawing time. However, they only barely managed to beat 2 minutes. (The winning time was 1:05.) Sarah sits on the log, staring blankly into space (seemingly oblivious to the rusty saw tearing through wood not even a foot away).

Jim gives a (humorous) presentation of the SNRE experience.

Dan, Tom, Jennifer, and Sarah "serenade" the crowd with guitar, drum kit, cello, and bongo.