Week 34 - Proud

Big day at the "Horse Bowl".

This weekend, my little brother won high individual at the state horse bowl competition, and his team won the contest as well. It feels as if it wasn't that long ago that we moved to Ohio and dipped our feet in the livestock world. My sister excelled within the sheep aspect, and my younger brother still found an opportunity to be unique and learn in a totally new area of animal science. His hard work has finally paid off and I could not be prouder of him for not just the success and awards, but the hard work and the rewards that came from it.

At work, I've been focused not only on getting some data for this delayed hydrogen storage project I've been working on, but also on reviewing grant proposals for student research supported by the OARDC. I must say that sitting on the review panel will be quite a learning experience, because I'm interested to see what others have to say about the proposals I've read. From what I've been told, the odds of having more than 1 fundable proposal in my set to review is slim based on funding percentages and this is right on par with what I've read. Basically, only one kid actually thought their project through enough beforehand to make me feel comfortable recommending it for funding. The rest are just a total crapshoot and it's not just the poor English. I can get through that and understand the point of the research. No, what I'm encountering is bad science. Poor statistical procedures, untestable or unlisted hypotheses, tacky bolding of the "primary objective" as if I wouldn't see it on my own, failure to budget properly (including for time) or to address pitfalls of the projects. Of course you want to sound optimistic, but we should also be realistic and prepared to avert disaster when things don't work out as planned. This was lacking pretty nearly across the board. However, my advisor was right - I certainly will learn more about grants and writing them from this review experience than I will from sitting in that class. I read 4 and they were quite diverse in skill level and scientific basis combined with lay writing.

Pipe is patched and the drywall is anchored to false boards.

The pipe repair is patched, even though the drywall hasn't been fixed yet. For those of you guys who might be patching a similar accident in your home in the future, I recommend a little more patience when scoring the drywall and removing it from wall. I got a bit sloppy and I am slowly realizing how much more difficult this will be when spackling the wall back up. As far as patching the pipe, that was pretty easy. It was a 4" pipe, so I bought a 4" coupler. Then, I cut the coupler in half along its diameter and the half down the length. With some sanding on the edges, it was ready to be glued with PVC glue and for extra precaution I used a metal band and tightened it down with a screwdriver. Let it cure overnight, and that issue was solved. Now just to repair that tacky wall job...

My wife painting baby's truffala trees.

Back at home, the baby room is coming along. My wife has been painting the hills from Dr. Seuss's "Oh, the places you'll go!" book on the walls and this theme has been perfect for us not knowing the gender of the baby. There are so many exciting colors, and animal creatures, and the books will be awesome to help our child learn to read. I have to admit that I haven't been as good about reading or playing piano to the baby, but I need to get back into it. It's hard to find the time for these things, but I'm going to have to learn how to make time for one more member of the family. Most importantly, I'm looking forward to how the baby will be an opportunity for my wife and I to spend more time together and working as a team, all the time sharing something very special. I'm so proud of our little family and I love them very much.

Finally uploaded our family Easter photo self-shoot.