Back to School

What a crazy week of Back to Schoolness starting this week:
Blair - University of Wisconsin Business School
Brigham - starting his Master in Computer Science
Evan - his third year of non-matriculated BYU Studies
Parker - Freshman year BYU
Mackey - Sophomore at Naperville North

That's a whole lot of schooling going on:

Planes & People

Planes and people what a delightful combination. I had heard of the Chicago Air & Water Show before.


The Chicago Air and Water Show presented by the City of Chicago and Shell Oil Products U.S is the the largest FREE show of its kind in the United States. The show can be viewed along the lakefront from Fullerton to Oak Street, with North Avenue Beach as the focal point.

Robert & Laura had attended last year and had captured the essence of the show on a DVD which I had watched at their home. All this still did not prepare me for how spectacular it would be to watch. Maybe it was the venue, maybe the ideal temperature, maybe the company, maybe the food, maybe the show itself, maybe all of it combined - but we had a grand time.

My cousin Bob & his wife Sallie graciously hosted us at their home where we had a 16th floor ring-side balcony view of the event. We were eye-high with many of the planes, were center stage at the Oak street Beach, could go to the 36th floor - roof top view, escape the heat and go inside; and eat and chat with Bob & Sallie, Bob's cousin Barbara, our gang plus a friend Gard, and Robert & Laura's brood.

The pictures really do not adequately tell the story. We had a great day in downtown Chicago.

Summer's End

the end of summer has sadly arrived.
the good news is that everyone gathered together for the weekend in naperville
the bad news is we won't all be together until christmas
the weather was beautiful which made for a great game of bags, croquet and dining outside
doesn't get much better

Cubs

Its not quite like watching the Twins - neither in ambiance of the new downtown stadium the Twins have or in the total game given the Twins actually win more than they lose. Nonetheless, Evan and Parker had a great time yesterday taking the the train into town and then catching the Cubs.

What a great day

Smurfs

they are making a come back
keep an eye peeled for the blue people
wh were blue way befoe he blueman group

So what is Brigham up to

So from time to time one is posed the question regarding one's of-spring; and as oft as naught I can provide a quality response. Nonetheless, its nice when a newspaper provides the answer. In this case the Daily Universe: ( http://universe.byu.edu/node/9584 )

BYU student awarded DOD SMART Fellowship

By University Comm...

- Tue, 07/13/2010 - 20:44

Brigham Wilson, an undergraduate researcher at the Information and Decision Algorithms Laboratories at Brigham Young University, has been awarded a 2010 Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation Fellowship by the U.S. Department of Defense.

The SMART Fellowship provides full tuition, book allowance, health insurance, a living stipend and a summer internship. This highly selective national program supports individuals who demonstrate an aptitude and interest in conducting theoretical and applied research.

Wilson is an economics and mathematics double major. He will be starting a master’s program in computer science at BYU this fall, where he will continue his research with BYU computer science professor Sean Warnick in the IDeA Labs.

The Air Force Headquarters A9 Directorate, Analysis and Assessments, in Washington, D.C., has offered Wilson a position after he completes his master’s degree.

Under Warnick’s supervision, Wilson completed an honors thesis titled “Forecasting Political Instability: Control-Theoretic Modeling of International Conflict.”

Wilson is completing an internship with the Computation Institute at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory.

The Department of Defense established the SMART program to support undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines. The program aims to increase the number of civilian scientists and engineers working at Department of Defense laboratories.

BYU’s Computer Science Department’s IDeA Labs is unique in its focus on dynamic systems, control and optimization as a foundation for studying a wide variety of complex phenomena.

Top students from across the university find a home for their research interests in business, life sciences, engineering or government. As a result, IDeA Labs is an incubator for students from a variety of technical majors to launch into careers or top programs of their choice.

For more information, contact the Computer Science Department at (801) 422-3027.

Croquet Champion

Ok so I might have some physical disabilities these day but I can still rise to the competitive challenge. After a day of laundry, lawn mowing and basement cleaning - we (Evan and I) went to Robert & Laura's for grilled pizza, cookies, and croquet.

The pizza great - the cookies fresh from the oven with milk('nuf said); and it was a glorious come from behind victory.

Kids do the darnedst things

So we are eating dinner at our friend Judy's house.( We love Judy and we love her cooking). Anyhow, she serves us eggplant, breaded, baked, meaty, and delightsome. Mackey goes to refill her water, leaves her nibbled-on piece on her plate; being the accommodating father, knowing Mackey's dining habits, I quickly and discretely finish her's off.

The first words out of Mackey's mouth upon her return - "Where's my eggplant?"

I confess, and confess I thought I was doing her a favor. So what does she do - She gets some more and proceeds to chow it down - delighting in every bite.

Who knew?

Parker Living the BYU life

So this looks like good college fun. Around 4,000 of Parker's closest friends gathered together last saturday to throw balloons at each other, It looks like grand fun - it needed a helicopter view

Sunday Dinner

Scone Sunday at its best.
The temperature was in the low 80s, light breeze, no bugs! It demanded that we eat out on the deck and enjoy the evening - which we did with Robert, Evan, Mac, Rindy, Marie, Joseph and Michael. We enjoyed a potpourri of jams and scone, good company and then Wits & Wagers in which I scored a stealth come from behind victory. Ah - the glories of Sunday.