Look! We have a blog too!

Poor Riley

2009-02-25T22:39:00.002-05:00

Lots of people have been asking about Riley, so I thought I'd post this note. I was walking Riley in the park on Monday with a friend. Riley was only a few feet behind us when we heard him yelp. I turned around a saw a dog on his back biting him. I yelled at the dog and it took off. I followed it to a nearby house then ran back to Riley and looked him over but couldn't see any wounds right off. He was whimpering and I was steaming mad. The dog had come out of nowhere and just ran up and bit my dog! My friend said he'd go talk to the dog owner later and wanted me to cool down.

When I got home from work, I noticed blood on Riley's back. I called the vet, but they were closed so I left a message on their machine asking for an appointment the next day. I went over to the dog owner's home that evening. A woman answered the door and immediately said, "What do you want?!" I explained to her what happened that morning. Her response was, "So. What do you want me to do about it." I told her I wanted to make sure this never happened again, especially since her dog has attacked Riley and other neighborhood dogs numerous times. She got defensive and asked how I knew it was her dog. I described the dog to her, and she said lots of people have chows in the area (total lie). I told her I followed the dog to her house. She denied it was her dog. I then told her I had another witness who could also describe the dog. She said she "might" talk to her husband about it. The next morning as I was walking Riley, the husband pulled up next to me in his car. He said, "I heard our dogs had an incident yesterday." I explained what happened and he said he was sorry but his dog "don't bite to be malicious" and "he was just doin' what dogs do." I told him that is not what dogs do and ended the conversation.

I took Riley to the vet. They didn't stitch him up because it is a puncture wound. He has one deep puncture wound and one that is more of a scratch. He has bruising around the area too. My vet bill came to $235.10 and there may be more if the wound gets infected. The wound doesn't hurt Riley and he isn't traumatized, so that's a plus. Now I'm filling out a animal bite report. There's not much the city or state can do unless there are three reports filled on this dog, but I do intend on making the dog owners pay the vet bills. I've started asking the neighbors about their experiences with the chow. There have been three other dogs attacked by the chow and two humans charged by it.

I'm asking everyone to report the chow if it is seen off leash anywhere and if it acts aggressively. The attack was bound to happen sometime. The chow has attacked Riley four or five times before, although this is the first puncture bite. I shouldn't have let the other attacks go unreported. Oh well. I've learned. I think the chow's aggression is escalating, and it's only a matter of time before it attacks a human. I've actually seen the dog loose in the park when children were playing there, and the owner was wandering behind it and yelling at all the kids to stay away--he's not friendly. Brilliant. I'll keep you posted on the developments.

New Year Fun

2009-02-06T15:00:00.003-05:00

Congratulations to Kevin for winning first place and best special effects in the Elkhart County Parks' photo contest! He ventured outside to take the winning picture when it was -30 degrees outside! What dedication.

We spent the weekend in Chicago to celebrate the Chinese New Year. We went to Lincoln Park and explored the zoo and had dinner on Navy Pier. We went to the parade on Sunday and watched the traditional dragon dance performed at the local shops. We also got delicious dim sum for lunch! We raced home after all the festivities so Kevin could catch the second half of the Super Bowl. All in all, it was a terrific (but busy) weekend.

Kevin has started his new job and is still trying to adjust to it. It's going to be a big challenge, but one that I am confident he can overcome. He found an apartment close to work that he can stay at during the week, which helps break up the awful commute. It's a big adjustment, but our friends have been really helpful and supportive during the transition. I don't know what we'd do without them.

I'm still busy with school work. That never changes. There's always more work to do than I can ever seem to get a grip on. But at least I'm still enjoying it!

We're Back!

2009-01-24T17:07:00.003-05:00

You think that we've given up on the whole blogging thing. I blame time; things have been moving too quickly for us to keep up with them all. Summer flew by, as well as the fall semester. We managed to make it back to Utah to visit family for Christmas. It was a short visit since I had so much work I needed to get done in the lab, but we managed to see many family members and had a great visit. We were especially excited to meet our new niece Eliza Woods. She's very sweet but has a grip that rivals a grown man's, as I found out when she grabbed some of my hair. Our families are all doing well, and we're looking forward to visitors in the spring and summer.

The biggest change in our lives came right before Christmas- Kevin was laid-off from Crowe. It was a mixed blessing. He wasn't happy there and had been looking for other jobs since fall, but it didn't seem like great timing right before the holidays. The job market is very bad in Michiana with unemployment at 10% in some areas, so we weren't sure what he'd be able to find available. Fortunately, Kevin's skills are in demand, and he managed to find two potential jobs. He took one that is all the way in Indianapolis (a 2 hour drive from South Bend), but was the most interesting and would be the better career move. We're not sure how all the commuting will work out, but I'm optimistic things will work out. He'll start this Monday.

As for Riley, he's as cute as ever. He's loving the cold weather and especially the snow. He'll run and jump into a snow bank, hunch down, and start eating all the snow around him. We also suspect he's part seal. He likes to slide his cheek along snowy patches on the sidewalk and slowly roll the rest of his body down. Once down, he lays on his side and uses his back legs to slide him along the sidewalk. He also thinks he needs to be let outside to roll in the snow every hour. We had a cold spell last week, but it didn't seem to phase Riley. I walked Riley one evening without realizing how cold it was outside. Fifteen minutes into our walk, my hands froze. I was concerned I was getting frostbite but I wasn't very close to our house. I ran to a friends house in the neighborhood, and luckily he was home. We spent a good twenty minutes warming up and then quickly headed home. When I got home, I found out it had been -26 degrees. We're still taking Riley to agility classes too. He's not the fastest or most graceful dog, but he puts his whole heart and body into it (which inevitably results in knocked down obstacles). At our last class, Riley was walking towards Kevin, looking at him full in the face. Kevin decided to tease him and pulled his coat over his face; Riley freaked out and started looking everywhere in the room for Kevin, except where he was actually sitting with a coat over his head. Everyone in the room just said, "Whoa. That's one smart dog." But we love him, and he always makes us smile.

Kevin is really progressing on his photography. A picture of his was featured on a CNN.com iReporters article on Chicago. His pic was selected out of thousands of entries. Check it out at http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/getaways/01/23/snapshots.chicago/index.html. It's the picture of the train. Best to you in the new year!

Overdue

2008-09-05T23:17:00.003-04:00

It really has been a super long time. Sorry for that. But it just means that we've been busy having fun and haven't had time to document everything that's been going on. We've been reprimanded, so I thought I'd write. There's a lot to catch up on, so I'll have to break things up. Plus, nobody really wants to read a super long blog. So, I'll start back in June…

UGANDA

I left for Uganda in early June for a research trip to Nindye, Uganda. It was an exploratory trip for a potential collaborative research project with the Ford Family Program at Notre Dame and Uganda Martyrs University. I stayed on the UMU campus and spent most of my time meeting with local health care workers looking at how malaria is treated in the area. I was able to visit local schools as well, which was quite an eye-opening experience.

Kevin was able to join me for part of the trip, and we were able to do a little sightseeing. We went whitewater rafting on the Nile. It was much moreintense than we had anticipated, but we survived and had a great time. We spent a couple of days in northern Uganda at Murchison Falls where the Nile River surges through a seven meter gap. We went on a mini-safari and saw all the big game of Africa. We even had a close encounter with some of Uganda's wildlife. We stayed in a banda near the park and woke up at two in the morning to the sound of rattling and rustling coming from our ceiling beams and from a little table near the door of the hut. I turned on my flashlight and aimed it at the wall where I heard noise. The first thing I saw was two glowing eyes near the mirror. I realized I was looking at a glossy, jet black snake curled up on the corner of our mirror. When I moved the light to the table, I saw another snake slithering between our cameras sitting on the table. I don't know much about the snakes of Uganda and had no idea if they were poisonous or dangerous. Our bed was in the middle of the room and was covered with a mosquito net. I didn't want to get out of bed to chase around two snakes in the early morning, so I told Kevin to go back to sleep because the snakes were unlikely to crawl onto the bed. Well, we lay there in bed for a few minutes listening to the snakes move around: The snake on the mirror fell onto a shelf and the one on the table crawled back onto the floor. Kevin couldn't stand it and got up. We didn't have any lights in the room (the electricity is shut off at ten o'clock), so I shone the flashlight while he used his camera's monopod to chase/scoot the snakes out of the room. We managed to sleep much better after that.

EUROPE

After Uganda, we headed to Europe for Natalie and Ulli's wedding in Heide, Germany, and met up with my parents as well. We were able to finally meet Ulli's family and enjoyed getting to know them. They were gracious hosts and held a spectacular wedding. From Heide, we traveled to Munich. We visited the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau and King Ludwig's castle Neuschwanstein.

From Munich, we traveled to Switzerland and stayed in the Lauterbrunnen in the Berner Oberland region. We explored the Alps and walked along the edges of Lake Geneva in Montreaux. We traveled to Lugano and explored the chalets along the lake and took a train through some of the most beautiful scenery of the Alps through Switzerland and northern Italy. From there we took a night train to Amsterdam.

We had a quick couple of days in Amsterdam and visited the Anne Frank and Rijks museum before heading to Brussels. We only had one day in Brussels, but enjoyed the wonderful nightlife in the city. From there it was back home- finally. I was gone for the entire month of June and really missed Riley. Apparently, Riley missed us too. He stayed with neighbors while we were gone but was sometimes put back in our house during the day. He decided to take out his anger on one of my houseplants and tore the poor plant to shreds. He even managed to pull it out of the pot and drag it around the house. Our neighbors came home after work to find pieces of plant and dirt spread out everywhere. They cleaned it up, but even when we got back, there were perfect muddy dog prints all over our carpets and even on our bed. I guess we should be happy that he missed us, even though we had to rent a carpet cleaner to get rid of all the paw prints.

Swiss Mountains

2008-08-01T16:29:00.001-04:00

Swiss Mountains
Originally uploaded by KM Photography..

Wow, has it really been that long since we last made a post? Crazy!

Things are going well with us and we've had a busy summer. Becky spent about two weeks in Uganda doing research and I met her there for the last week and we did some site seeing.

We then spent a couple of weeks traveling around Europe with Becky's family.

I will try to have a post here soon with more details and pictures of our summer events. I just had to at least get something on here. :-)

Miller Cliff Notes

2008-05-17T18:12:00.001-04:00

Another long absence, I know. I'll just hit the highlights. The semester is finally over, and I managed to eke by in my class. I am now totally done with coursework- forever! It's a good thing too because I couldn't take another formal lecture course with tests and projects. It'll be nice to focus completely on my dissertation project. Our friends the Behling's visited us for a weekend, and we were able to take our dogs on lots of walks through campus (with an unexpected detour into the lakes) and Potato Creek State Park. Kevin got his first job for his newly created KM Photography business. He took pictures for a car show at the McCormick Place in Chicago. It went well and Kevin's expecting more jobs to come in. We also decided to put vinyl siding on our house. It was a last minute decision that just fell into our laps, and we couldn't pass it up. The job is almost finished, and it looks great. It sure beats having to paint! Riley's doing great and is still growing. He went through a bit of a teenager phase but seems to be pulling out of it now. Other than that, I've been super busy trying to get our upcoming trips to Uganda and Europe planned. I leave in two and a half weeks and don't feel anywhere near ready. I got all my shots and have my pills. I'm nervous about Uganda. I'm going over there for my fellowship and am working on finding collaborators for a research project on malaria and the Ugandan health care system. That means I have a lot of prep work to do before I leave. Kevin will meet up with me a week later, and we'll do a little bit of sightseeing. From Uganda, we head to Germany for Natalie and Ulli's wedding. We'll hang out with Ulli's family for a while, then take a week with my parents to do some blitz sightseeing. I'll be gone for the whole month of June. Riley will be staying with neighbors, so he'll be well taken care of; he'll probably forget all about us. We'll be sure to post lots of pictures- Kevin is super excited to get some new views for his camera. I'll try to write again before we leave, but it's likely we won't write until July. Wish us luck!

Parasites, Panic & Politics

2008-04-13T22:17:00.002-04:00

I made it back from Florida in one piece. [For Mel] I was in Tampa at the University of South Florida visiting a lab down there that does transfections for the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Transfection isn't anything new to science, but when you have an 80% A-T rich organism, getting anything to successfully insert into the genome is a big deal. It was a success! I'm not sure if the actual transfected parasites will survive, but just learning how to do the technique made the trip worthwhile. I worked full days on Monday and Tuesday and half days on Wednesday and Thursday. I managed to drive down around the Tampa Bay area to sight see a bit one afternoon and went to the IMAX the second afternoon. Other than that, I was basically in the lab or reading at the hotel. The hotel I stayed at was also in a bad part of town. I walked to campus on the first day I was there and was told not to do that again. Turns out they were right about the area. My last night at the hotel I was woke up at 3:30am to the sound of someone banging on the vending machines around the corner outside of my hotel room. The next morning, I noticed the security cameras had been knocked around and the vending machines were broken open. I was glad that was my last night there. The weather was very warm— eighty degrees during the day. There were violent thunderstorms each evening; that's unusual for spring.

Last week was a disaster trying to get everything back up to speed. It was frustrating. I'm still in panic mode with the end of the semester fast approaching and me not having my course project finished. That's one reason why this entry will be so short.

Wednesday we went to an Obama rally in South Bend. Kevin got six tickets, so we and four friends went to the rally. Obama didn't speak until 10:30pm but there was still quite a crowd. He's a great speaker and the crowd was really hyped. We're hoping to hear Clinton speak sometime. I'm so excited to be in a state that actually participates in politics and has candidates visit.

The lab has been very busy with parties and such. We had a successful thesis defense and engagement. On Friday, I also managed to invite over the entire lab to our house for a party. I don't know how it all happened, but before I knew it, I was having ten people over for Korean barbeque. It went really well though, with more food than we could ever eat. I even learned how to roll sushi (although we made kimbap). Needless to say, I'm very tired today.

Other announcements: I guess I'll be gone the entire month of June. I don't know how I'll do without my Riley. Should be interesting and exhausting. Well, that's all for now.

Checkin' In

2008-03-28T17:02:00.002-04:00

Wow! (expressing surprise, not World of Warcraft). Kevin actually wrote in the blog! It's a miracle. Well, here's part of a blog I've been working on for a couple of weeks. I'll just fill in what Kevin left out.

First off, Riley is okay. He was given a clean bill of health (and we were told he now weighs over 90 pounds). His thyroid is functioning properly; he has a seasonal hormone change that results in the loss of hair. It has to do with the low amount of daylight and low productions of serotonin, much like humans suffering from S.A.D. Now that the weather has turned and the days are getting longer, his hair has grown back in. He's still shedding like crazy, but at least he doesn't have bald spots. I don't blame him for losing his hair because of the South Bend winter. We have more cloudy days per year than Seattle! In fact, our weather is often referred to as the "permacloud." But spring should be around the corner any time now...hopefully.

We had a good Easter. We were planning on going with some friends to Notre Dame's Easter brunch on Sunday, but they sold out of tickets early. So, we were forced to cook Easter dinner ourselves. It turned out great even though it was quickly slapped together. We had the full works and a full house.

We're managing to stay busy. I head to Florida this weekend and Kevin's going to a photography seminar in Chicago. There's always something going on, but we're still loving the Midwest and having a great time!

Wait... This isn't World of Warcraft

2008-03-28T15:32:00.007-04:00

Look at this... I'm finally putting up a blog post. Its been a little while so I figured it might be something good to do since I have the day off. Besides, what else I'm I supposed to do eh?...

Sorry, I started that several hours ago but got side tracked playing... errrr doing something else. Boy this month has just flown by. Its hard to believe its already the 28th. We've been pretty busy with our normal work/school tasks. I'll just try to highlight a few of the things we did.

First off as the last blog post referenced work was pretty crazy for me. In a quick summery of what happed is that I ended up deleting the company website. oops I'm working on moving sites from one server over to another and during this process I hit the wrong button which overlaid one of the sites over the main internal site. We then tried to restore to a backup but we had problem after problem come up that prevented us from restoring to a backup. We would setup test environments that were identical to our production server and it would restore without a problem there. Well, after putting in about 120 hours in a 11 day span we finally were able to get the site restored back to how it should have been. Most of those hours were spent between the hours of 11 pm- 6 am since that is the only time we could really take down our production environment. Not a good week. I was ready to go back to Walmart. :-)

We made it to Chicago on St. Patrick's Day weekend to see the festivities there. We met up with the Behlings who used to live here in South Bend. It was fun to see the river dyed green and go to the parade. The parade was something that was fun to see but we probably wont do it again. We're not really parade people and it seemed like there was just a lot of random people walking down the street with one high school band after another.

We have also been busy trying to get our upcoming trips planned. Becky has to go to Florida the for a week to work with another lab down there on some techniques they use. We have also been trying to plan our summer trips to Germany and Uganda. It's definitely going to be a crazy summer.

Riley is doing well and is still as cute as ever. Its starting to warm up so I'm not sure what he is going to do without the snow. Its kind of funny watching him try to find the last patch of snow so he can flop down and roll around in it.

I know its been a month since our last post but I can't think of anything else to post. (that doesn't mean that there is not anything more but just that I'm horrible with recalling things.) I'll leave it up to Becky to come back and add more if there is anything I'm forgetting. :-)

Work Sucks

2008-03-01T18:37:00.004-05:00

Well, this week hasn't been the best of weeks. Poor Kevin has been working non-stop. He claims he'll be writing his own blog entry explaining what's going on, so I'll leave it at that. Besides being a hard work week, it's also been tough for our little Riley. I was brushing Riley last Sunday when I noticed some bald patches on his sides. At first I freaked out thinking I had brushed him too much. After being assured by a myriad of people that you can't over-brush a dog, I was told to take him to the vet. I took him in on Thursday. The vet wasn't overly concerned but thinks Riley may have a thyroid hormone deficiency. We won't know for sure until the results of the blood sample are back on Monday. If it is a thyroid hormone deficiency, we'll have to give Riley a daily hormone pill for the rest of his life. Other than that, there isn't anything else that needs to be done.

Another fun Riley story- Friday morning, after showering, I walked over to Kevin's side of the bed to give him a good-morning kiss when I stepped in something wet. I prayed it was just water from Riley's early morning roll in the snow, but when we turned on the lights we discovered a huge lake Riley had created sometime that night. We can't figure out when he did it. We let him out at 11pm, 3am, and 6am. Anyway, it was a great way to start the day. It took us a long time to get it all cleaned up. I'm just hoping it was an accident and not some sort of regression or rebellion on his part.

As for my week at school, things were good for the most part. It was a week full of meetings, so I didn't get as much lab work done as I wanted to. But great things came out of all of my meetings, so I can't complain too much. I was able to meet with some Ugandan ambassadors from the Uganda Martyrs University about possible collaborative research efforts in Uganda. I will likely be taking an exploratory trip in May or June to Uganda. I'm very excited about the research possibilities.

Not much else is going on. This upcoming week is spring break, but that doesn't mean anything to grad students except there will be less undergrads in the hallways. Oh, I should tell you that I'm writing this entry on my new desktop computer that Kevin bought for me. I think there are some ulterior motives, but I love it just the same. Stop eying my computer monitor, Kevin!

Sleepin' Like a Dog

2008-02-22T22:23:00.003-05:00

Not much has been going on lately. Nothing but work and school. I should just get used to the fact that I won't have a life for a few more years. We're managing to have a bit of fun now and then. We had a lab Wii party last weekend and managed to squish ten people into our little living room and swing controllers back and forth. This weekend will be low key and relaxing with no big plans.

Riley's doing well. He's been a bit of a pill the past week. He keeps getting up around 3am to go to the bathroom. One night he woke us up five times! He vomited at 1am, wanted to go out at 3am, vomited again at 4am and 5am, and wanted to go out again at 6am. Kevin insists he vomited at least one more time during that night, but I don't remember it. (Riley's fine, by the way. He had swallowed some indigestible bone fragments). Riley has also started an annoying habit of rolling in the covers that hang off the side of the bed, pulling them off of us. He does that when he wants attention. He also walks along side the bed and bumps into it. He'll walk all the way around the bed to the other side, bumping into the side as he goes, then turns around and bumps his way back. Last night he got thrown out of the bedroom after being let out at 1am, apparently for an emergency roll in the snow. After he was shut out of our room, I proceeded to have the best nights sleep in weeks.

Und fur Ulli-- Alles Gute zum Geburtstag! Grosse Leibe! Hope you had a fun birthday and were able to avoid any Elmo encounters.

Funny Onion Article

2008-02-22T22:18:00.005-05:00

Too Cold!!

2008-02-11T16:56:00.000-05:00

It's just me again. I tried to rename the blog, but unfortunately "Look! Becky has a blog that has been dumped by her husband because he's too busy playing World of Warcraft to spend five minutes writing an entry- too!" is too long for Blogger. Bummer. Anyways, Kevin is still addicted to World of Warcraft and is now in the process of getting our friend Dave hooked. He has no shame. Anyways, it was a busy past week. Besides the regular seminars, classes, and meetings, the Notre Dame Biology Department hosted graduate recruits over the weekend. That meant the labs had to be available to meet and talk with the potential recruits. Saturday was super busy. I left home around 8:15am and didn't get home until 10:00pm. Dr. Ferdig asked us to be in the lab from 9am-12:15pm so recruits could visit the lab. The lab decided that since we had to be in on a Saturday, we might as well make it fun. We brought food, games, and Simpsons. Even our lab techs, who weren't required to be there on Saturday, came in. We had a great time and even managed to get some work done. I met a lot of cool people. Another BYU alumni is considering Notre Dame. He knows both me and Dave. He took icthyology from my dad when Dave was TA'ing it, and he came on some field trips for an ecology lab I took as a master's student. Hopefully he'll come. We're always trying to build our numbers here.

Riley is now a year old!! We didn't celebrate his birthday much. We weren't sure if it'd make us crazy dog owners to throw him a party, but luckily our friend Tom stepped up. He took Riley during the day while we were at work. Riley played all day with his pal Gretchen and came back home to us completely worn out. He ate his dinner and promptly fell asleep. Tom and Gretchen gave Riley some nice gifts too. All in all, I think Riley had a good birthday.

Tom took me and Kevin to Bethel College's Romeo and Juliet on Friday too. We had a good time and were very impressed with Bethel's acting department. Maybe we'll go to more plays there.

The big story here is the cold weather. We were planning on going to Chicago on Sunday for the Chinese New Year parade but got trapped at home. The temperature got up to 5 degrees with a wind chill of -30 degrees. The wind gusts were up to 50 mph. The visibility was so poor in South Bend that the police department issued a No-Drive warning with white-out conditions. We figured we'd be safer and happier staying home. Maybe next year.

More Winter Fun

2008-02-03T19:27:00.000-05:00

Welcome to another entry in "Look! Becky has a blog that has been dumped by her husband because he's too busy playing World of Warcraft to spend five minutes writing an entry- too!" Another busy week has gone by. Kevin spent most of the week in Chicago for some training meetings. I missed him, but Riley kept me good company. I actually got more sleep since I was able to go to bed earlier and didn't have a loud snorer next to me (Riley does snore but not as loudly as Kevin). Our neighbors were awesome and stepped in for Kevin. Tom took Riley for the whole day and watched him for me. Riley came home tuckered out from playing with Tom's labrador Gretchen the whole day. Our neighbors also gave me rides to and from school and agility classes. I love our neighbors!

The weather has been a bit wacky here. I was actually able to ride my bike to school on Tuesday. It was raining and got up to 48 degrees--in January! After our warm day, the temperature plummeted to minus 25 degrees. Crazy Indiana weather! As soon as you get used to the weather, it promptly changes. The worst part of the weather changes is the heat in our building. The building I work in is actually a conglomerate of three buildings. Different sections were added on at various times. My lab happens to be in the oldest, most dilapidated portion of the building, meaning our ventilation (along with other things) is very poor. Once the heat is turned on for the building, it can't be shut off without significant effort. Well, if the temperature fluctuates (which it does frequently in Indiana), the heat can't be adjusted, so we fry. With the weather this week, our lab reached 84 degrees inside. It made us a bit sluggish, but it's not as bad as a few weeks ago when our lab reached a record 94 degrees for a whole week. We ended up buying four box fans and setting them up in the lab to try to get some air flow. It's not the smartest thing to do in a molecular lab, but we couldn't stand the lab otherwise.

Our big activity this week was snow tubing at Wilson Park in Mishawaka. Most of my lab mates came, along with Dave and Kevin. Kevin ended up taking more pictures than actually tubing. The snow was great! We just got a foot of snow in a 24 hour period from Thursday to Friday. We all had a blast. It was great taking Asako and Upeka tubing for the first time. I'll turn them into adrenaline junkies yet. We'll definitely have to go again, especially since Kevin had to leave early. He was on call and had to go save Crowe.

Happy Birthday to Natalie!! She's 30 now! I told her not to worry about that since she still acts like a 12 year old.

It's going to be another busy week. We have graduate recruitment weekend this week. Our lab will be busy hosting potential students. Should be fun.

Catching Up

2008-01-27T21:02:00.000-05:00

Okay, okay. I didn't really finish the last entry I uploaded. I'm thinking of renaming this blog to "Look! Becky has a blog that has been dumped by her husband because he's too busy playing World of Warcraft to spend five minutes writing an entry- too!" I'm not really that bitter, but Kevin can't complain about what I choose to write about. Plus, I'm doing this with an eighty pound dog completely sprawled out on my lap as I sit on the couch. I'm not very comfortable and it isn't easy typing this way.

So what's been going on...classes are back in session. I'm sitting in on a parasitology class, and it's making me very paranoid. My dad always did say that the most paranoid people in the world are microbiologists and parasitologists. Now, whenever Riley stops to sniff something or picks something up in his mouth, I freak out. "Nooo, Riley! That could be raccoon poo teeming with thousands of parasites that will eventually climb up your trachea to be swallowed back down and begin the lifecycle all over again!" We also learned about human pinworms. Eeew! I don't care how much I love my child, I am not checking for those pinworms myself. And if my child did have pinworms, I'd seriously consider giving it up for adoption, moving or burning down the house, and starting all over again. Anyways, it's going to be a fun semester. The last time I was this affected by a class, I couldn't eat cold-cuts for a year (it was a human anatomy lab with cadavers).

Things are going well for us. Almost too well. We're waiting for something to come along and rock the boat. I'm loving Notre Dame. I'm having tons of fun with my labmates. It's great just getting to hang out with them every day. We went ice skating on Saturday. Most people hadn't ever been ice skating before! It was great fun. We also saw Cloverfield over the weekend. I wasn't expecting much, but I really enjoyed it. I'd recommend it to anyone who doesn't get motion sickness easily.

Kevin will be spending most of next week in training meetings in Chicago. I'm not sure how I'll survive without his help with Riley. Our neighbors have all offered to help out with him. I'll be taking them up on their offers. I already feel like a moocher. I've been getting rides to school from a friend, rides to agility classes from a neighbor who also watches Riley during the day sometimes. As for Riley himself, he's great. He's all healed up and is bouncing around with much more energy than before the surgery. He makes us laugh every day. Hope everyone is doing well! Have a good week!

Good Holidays

2008-01-13T21:29:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been a while since we last wrote. Our trip to Utah went well. Our flight from O'Hare to Salt Lake City was delayed by an hour, and when we finally got to Salt Lake City, we ran into a major snow storm. The runways had to be cleared, so we ended up circling around the airport for an hour. My poor sister had been waiting for us for an hour in the cold parking lot. We were planning on traveling to Ogden that night, but with the snow storm, we ended up staying in Salt Lake City with Natalie and Ulli. We didn't get to visit family in Ogden as long as we had planned because of the storm, but we managed to see my grandmas and some cousins. Christmas came and went too quickly, but we had a great time. We even managed to take a trip to southern Utah to look at Kevin's aunt's new house. Unfortunately, while we were there, most of Kevin's family got the flu. We lucked out and didn't get sick, but It's a beautiful house with a great view of red rock country. Seeing all the mountains made me miss living in Utah, but it was nice to get back home to Indiana.

Riley didn't come with us on our trip. Our neighbors took care of him while we were gone, and I was worried he'd like them better than us. They have two other dogs for him to play with all the time and he always gets spoiled when he stays with them. I was scared we would be replaced. But Riley seemed excited enough to see us when we got back and managed to adjust back to us.

New Year's was quiet. We were still recovering from our trip to Utah and didn't want to do anything too exciting. I went to bed before midnight.

Sadly, Kevin's commercial for TCU didn't win. It's too bad because I thought it was the best one there. Oh, well. I guess Kevin will have to postpone his acting career for a while.

We just got Riley neutered. I know it was the right and responsible thing to do, but I can't help but feel bad for him. He's such a mellow dog to begin with, that it didn't seem fair. But we had it done. When I called the vet's office to check on him, the nurse told us he'd been singing to them all day. I could hear him in the background howling! He's never howled before. The poor guy was very upset for two days. He kept whining and wouldn't stop. But by day three, he was jumping and running (regardless of our efforts to keep him still). And there was no more whining! He's doing great now. He'll be back up and running in no time.

Vote for Kevin!

2007-12-17T22:55:00.000-05:00

Kevin's commercial has been posted! To check out the commercial, go to http://sobendt.upickem.net/engine/Votes.aspx?contestid=610. Kevin's is the black and white one. It's a contest, and the commercial with the most votes will be aired. To vote, you are first required to create a profile--whether or not the profile is accurate is another question ;) Please vote if you can! And support Kevin's newest hobby! Go Kevin!

Christmas Rush

2007-12-10T22:18:00.000-05:00

Hi All! I always forget how busy this time of the year gets. I have my Christmas shopping done, but there's still a million and one things to do. We went to Kevin's work Christmas party on Saturday. I don't really fit in with business people and was bored, but I hung in there. I felt like I really didn't belong. My favorite part of the night was talking with some of Kevin's coworkers who found out I am a biology student and began to ask me random questions: What's your take on stem cell research? Do you believe in global warming? What do you think about the ban of DDT? Usually they are just asking so they can tell me their own point of view. It doesn't matter if a scientific point of view may help clarify things; they ask their questions just so they can tell you why you're wrong. So much fun! Anyway, turn about is fair play- my lab party is tomorrow night and Friday is my departmental Christmas dinner. Maybe Kevin will have something to say about all the liberal scientist geeks he meets.

Speaking of geeks- good news everyone! Futurama is back!! To celebrate, we invited a bunch of friends over to watch the new movie. It was good and typical Matt Groening humor. I highly recommend it to all sophisticated, open-minded, intellectuals. :)

As for further events, Riley is now allowed to stay outside of his crate all day and night. Of course, he wants to be in the bed the whole night with us, but we've made some compromises. He's allowed to sleep on the bed with me until Kevin comes to bed (usually an hour or so after I've gone to bed). Then he gets kicked off and sleeps on the floor on a big dog pillow donated to him by Brian, his 2nd dad. Our first week of it has been rough. Riley wakes up at 4am and thinks he needs to walk around aimlessly. He also snores, kicks, growls, and whimpers in his sleep. Sometimes, both he and Kevin will have snoring competitions, but I'm always the one who ends up losing. There was one night when Kevin was snoring loudly and woke Riley up. Riley tried to let Kevin know how unhappy he was with the snoring by sighing loudly and making little whining noises. They were both keeping me awake by that point, but I couldn't help but laugh listening to them.

Kevin's acting career may be starting! One of the commercials he was in is in the top five commercials and may be the one selected to air. We'll keep you posted. They'll put up a link to the commercials soon so you can see him.

So far, the brunt of the ice storms has missed us. We had one storm Saturday night that iced everything over until today. Kevin tried to take Riley on a walk and gave up after a block; they kept falling. I hope everyone is keeping warm! I'm not ready for Christmas yet, but I'm super ready for the break! I can hardly stand waiting for our vacation to start. Of course, before then I need to get some more gifts, get Riley supplies, figure out our vacation schedule, etc... I love the holidays in theory, but the reality of them make me crazy. If you need a little break and a big laugh, check out the YouTube clip below. Happy Holidays!

Happy Turkey Day!

2007-11-24T21:07:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We had a busy but fun one. The Behling's, Janetski's, and Upeka and her fiance Andrew joined us for a massive lunch. Even though there were only eight of us (and two vegetarians), I still got a full sized turkey so there would be plenty of leftovers for everyone. We got another fresh, organic turkey from the local farmer's market- mmm! I'll never go back to frozen turkey! After stuffing ourselves with loads of good food, we played Guitar Hero for hours and went to the movie Enchanted. The Behling's and their dog Anya stayed overnight with us. Thankfully, Anya and Riley wore each other out leaving us plenty of time to hang out. We managed to get a little Christmas shopping done, but neither of us are into shopping especially with large crowds. I'm hoping to get the rest of the shopping done online.

Riley graduated from obedience school earlier this month and from beginner's agility school! We're very proud of our graduate. He is now passing out of his teenage rebellion stage and is now extremely cuddly. We can't do anything without him sitting on us. He's also stopped whining as much (thankfully! It was really embarrassing) and now has to mark everything. He even lifts his leg occasionally- such a big boy! He starts intermediate agility school on Wednesday. He'll be going to class with one of his best friends, so I'm not sure how well he'll pay attention. It's great exercise for him though, especially since it's getting colder and darker outside and harder for me and Kevin to stand being outside. We're also taking Riley to a doggy play-group on Saturdays. He was terrified at first. There were fifteen other dogs running wildly around a field and Riley didn't know what to do. He was a wallflower for forty minutes or so before timidly playing with some of the quieter dogs. The next time we took him he jumped right in to the fun, but he's a really mellow dog. Some of the more aggressive dogs would pin him and he wouldn't growl or bark at all, which made them pick on him even more. Poor guy is just too docile. He had a great time for the most part and was worn out for the rest of the day.

Kevin is still busy learning the ropes to his new job. He has training all next week. He's also keeping super busy with his photography business and is constantly cleaning up pictures for people. He's also been sucked into World of Warcraft meaning he's up all night and I don't see him as often as I'd like unless I sit in the office with him. He's also started an annoying trend of stealing all the covers at night, leaving me shivering. If I try to pull them back, he rolls himself up tighter in them. He's also impossible to wake up. Grrr.

As for me, I'm keeping busy with school. The semester is nearly over (yeah!!), but there is still a ton to do. Lab work is going frustratingly slow, but I keep hacking at it. Other than that, I'm loving Amazon.com and trying to find ways to never have to go to another mall again. I can't believe it's December already and that we'll be heading home to Utah in just a few weeks! We're really excited. We're putting together a list of restaurants we want to go to (it'd be nice to see some friends and family while there too). I'm going to have a Gandolfo's breakfast sandwich every morning.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! And thanks for reading my ramblings!

The Famous Miller Boys

2007-11-03T22:25:00.000-04:00

Time is still cruising by, and we are as busy as ever. Riley is still going to obedience school and agility school. Sometimes I feel like I'm already a soccer mom! I'm always rushing home after work so I can get Riley to his classes on time. I worry that Kevin and I are turning into obsessed dog owners, but Riley's just too darn fun and cute. Riley is also the featured video on our dog trainer's website. Check out Jeff Rynearson's Midwest K-9 Training website http://www.midwestk9training.com/ to see Kevin and Riley showing off. Both boys look great!

Halloween was great! We went to our ward's Trunk-or-Treat and passed out two big bags worth of candy to all the kids. At home we passed out an additional four bags of candy. We celebrated by dressing Riley up as a skunk. He tried eating the costume at first, but got used to it after a while. I dressed up as a twin with another girl. It's a long story- basically, a lab mate and I share the exact same birthday, are both Japanese, the same height, and both have freckles (which is unusual for Japanese people). So, we decided to be conjoined twins for Halloween. The costume worked out great except Asako wouldn't come with me to my classes. It's hard to explain your costume when half of it is missing. We also celebrated Halloween by going to Thistleberry Farm here in South Bend. They have a huge corn maze and pumpkin patch. Asako and Upeka (another lab mate) hadn't ever celebrated Halloween (not being Americans), so we all picked out pumpkins and gave the corn maze a try. The maze was supposed to take 1 hour and 15 minutes, but we were in there quite a bit longer than that. In our defense, it was dark and stormy. We later carved our pumpkins together. It's amazing to see the cultural differences reflected in what was carved (see if you can tell which was carved by a person from the U.S., Japan, or Sri Lanka). It was a great Halloween!

We also had more family visit us here in South Bend. Kevin's mom's cousin's husband and his son came to the USC vs. ND game as huge USC fans. We gave them a tour of campus and took them to the pre-game fun. I was worried about traveling around with USC fans, but people were super friendly. People were actually friendlier to opposing fans than to other ND fans. After the game, Byron and Tim took us to dinner. It was great having them visit and also fun to take part in all the game traditions. The actual football game could have been better, but that's the story of the season.

As for Kevin, he is now in his new position at Crowe and had his first Saturday off today! To celebrate, we slept in and went to a pancake house for breakfast. He seems to be adjusting well and getting to know all his new coworkers. In fact, his coworkers got him involved with them in War of Warcraft online- I rarely see my husband now. Kevin has also decided to add 'actor' to his current resume of computer guru, dog trainer, and photographer. A coworker asked him to be in a commercial he was producing for a local contest. He and the professional film crew were so impressed with Kevin that they asked him if they could call on him again. Kevin now has another commercial request set up for later. All this is well and good, but I refuse to move to Hollywood.

As for little ol' me, I was a sick for a week or so and got behind on school work and lab work. I'm mostly caught up, but my classes are really starting to get busy. Plus my GLOBES fellowship is adding a lot of extra work to my already plentiful plate. I can't complain too much because I am having fun.

Also, congratulations to Michael and Annalynne on their marriage! Wish we could have been there! That's it for now. Thanksgiving is coming up fast!

Riley's Time

2007-10-17T20:06:00.000-04:00

Time's been flying by, and most of it has been spent on Riley. He is now in agility class and is doing great, thanks in large part to the help from our neighbor Tom and his dog. We missed the first class, but Riley has caught up quickly. He has now been through all the obstacles and likes them all. He was hesitant for a few of the obstacles but after going through them once, he now loves them. We go once a week and are learning as much as Riley. Agility school requires a lot of direction from the handlers, and we're learning how best to direct Riley as he goes through the obstacle course. Kevin worked out a deal with the instructor- he takes pictures for her website and also offers picture packages for those students going through the classes. In exchange she gave us a class for free. Kevin has decided to start his own photography business because of all the attention he's getting. He received another request for one of his photos for a brochure produced by the Department of Computer and Information Science at the University of Oregon. He's hoping to have a small photography business on the side called KM Photography. Hopefully he'll get things going soon. He's also been asked to act in a local commercial directed by a coworker. Kevin may end up as the next movie star!

Riley also went swimming for the first time with his second family (the Young's and their dogs). We hoped Riley would learn how to swim by following after Kelsey and Molly (it was also nice to have a police escort through the Notre Dame security gates). Riley jumped right in at first, then freaked out a bit and tried to get out of the water by leaping up and down. Eventually he wanted to play with Kelsey and Molly more than his fear of the water and jumped in. He never stayed in long, but he did swim for a minute. I think the next time we go he'll jump right in.

We also had visitors last Thursday-Friday. Our friends the Behling's stayed with us overnight while Garrett had some work here in South Bend. They brought their four month old Jack Russel terrier named Anya. Anya weighs eight pounds and Riley weighs around eighty. Despite that, they played great together. It was fun watching how careful Riley was with Anya.

Kevin finally has Sundays off. Last Sunday we spent our first whole day together since the first of the year. It makes the day last a lot longer and it's more relaxing. Plus he can help with Riley and the house. He can now go to our ward too.

Also, congratulations to the Janetski's on the birth of their baby boy Jonah Dean. He was born on my birthday! He's a cute little guy, although a bit colicky. It'll be fun watching him grow while we're here in South Bend.

Not much else is going on around here. I'm really tired of school work, but fall break is next week. I'm really boring compared to Kevin and Riley. Oh, well. My boys are keeping me busy enough!

Happy Birthday Becky!!!! (This last week)

2007-09-30T15:20:00.018-04:00

Another week or so has flown by. This last week was Becky's Birthday but sadly we were not able to celebrate very wildly. We both worked till 6 or so and then I had to go to scouts at 7. That did not leave much time to do anything else. By the time I got home from scouts we were too tired to go do anything. Hopefully I'll be able to make up for it by celebrating every day. :-)

We had another training class for Riley this last week. It was another session where Riley did everything we asked him too so there was not much training to be done. The trainer brought his dog along but Riley did not have any problems with it. We believe it was because this dog was a German Shepherd and was usually used to help train aggressive dogs. Riley was a little intimidated by it. Our trainer was so impressed by how well Riley obeyed that he asked us for permission to video him so he could put him on his training website. I'll post a link once the video is uploaded.

Other then that I started training this week for my new position. So far so good but I haven't been able to do too much since I'm still working my other job too. It will be a nice change. I'm going to finish this now so I can post this and not just have it as a draft for several weeks.

Alaska Glaciers

2007-09-25T08:23:00.001-04:00

Alaska Glaciers
Originally uploaded by anyoungkevin

Yeahh! I sold my first photo on a site called Red Bubble. I'm racking in the money now. I made 45 cents. :-)

http://www.redbubble.com/people/photokevin/art/168248-1-glaciers-in-alaska

It's always "Kevin, Kevin, Kevin"

2007-09-19T19:23:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to Kevin!! He got a new job! He'll still be working at Crowe Chizek but is moving out of the computer support center and will be heading up Crowe's new SharePoint Server. He'll be in charge of designing and maintaining the system for the entire company! It's a pay raise, better career track, and he doesn't have to work on weekends anymore! We can actually plan day trips now. He officially starts November 1, but begins training October 1. I'm so proud of him! Because of the new job, he's holding off on applying to MBA programs for a year or two. He's still planning on taking the GMAT though. We're both really excited for his new job. Kevin has also been contacted by someone wanting to use one of his pictures on Flickr for a book he's writing on PhotoShop. In exchange, he'll give Kevin a free copy of the book. Go Kevin!

Happy birthday to my mom! She celebrated her 35th birthday this week. :) Here's to many more!

As for Riley, he's still doing great. We had our second obedience class last week, which was a bit of a waste of time. Riley does great around humans. He listens to us and obeys, even with distractions. Jeff, the trainer, tried to distract Riley from his sit and stay command by bouncing a ball by him or calling to him, but Riley stayed put. He even stayed when Kevin would leave the building. Jeff skipped ahead to training weeks three and four, and Riley passed them all within half an hour. After that, Jeff was out of ideas. We spent the rest of the time talking and playing with Riley. Kevin showed Jeff all of Riley's tricks. Jeff wants to video tape Riley at our next class as a demo for his website. Riley's a very smart dog; his major failing is with other dogs. He loves to socialize with other dogs, and he'll completely ignore you when he's with another dog. That's where we need the most help. For our next class, Jeff is bringing a "distraction" dog so we can work on Riley's problem.

I attended another agility class last week. I think our neighbor wanted company more than anything, so I went. I took Kevin's camera with me and took some fun pictures of the dogs. The trainer was impressed with the pictures and would like us to take more for her website and brochure. In exchange, she's willing to reduce the price of classes. Once Riley passes obedience school, we'll sign him up for the agility classes. Riley and I have been walking in the mornings with our neighbor and his dog Gretchen. He's been teaching Riley some of the agility tricks (actually, Riley tends to follow Gretchen around and does whatever she does). Riley does really well with the jumps- I can't wait to get him to the real obstacle courses.

As for me, not much is new. I'm still working a lot, and classes are keeping me busy. I have been getting my exercise- Riley's walks last up to an hour and a half now that we're walking with our neighbor and his dog. The park near our house is beautiful and very big. We mostly let the dogs wander around off leash as we walk around the park. I had a check up with my allergist. He's baffled that I don't have any allergy symptoms even though I'm allergic to everything. He told me to count my blessings.

That's it for now.

My Dad Rocks!

2007-09-14T10:44:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to my dad for being chosen as Brigham Young University's most outstanding graduate adviser! He won the Wesley P. Lloyd Award for Distinction in Graduate Education (here's a link to the news release http://news.byu.edu/archive07-aug-univawards.aspx). I've included a picture of why he's such a top-notch adviser. This is an actual picture of my father taking a piggyback ride on his graduate student David Janetski's back. We were in Alaska, and my dad didn't want to take his waders with him even though he went fly fishing. So, he had his graduate student give him a ride across the river to the good fishing holes. The things advisers make their graduate students do! Congrats, dad!

Notre Dame Shame

2007-09-09T21:07:00.000-04:00

Well, the new school year has begun! I have three classes. Two of them are block classes though. So far I'm really liking them. It's a lot harder balancing class work and full time lab work than I initially thought; mostly because many of my experiments rely on the parasites' timing, not my own. I've been working late and on weekends, but I'm hoping things will calm down soon (I think I keep saying this every time I write an entry). I went to the Chicago Area Mycology and Parasitology (CAMP) meetings in Chicago on Friday and spent the whole day with my lab members. It was a very small and casual conference, and they provided free food. The conference itself wasn't too stimulating, but I did have a great time hanging out with my lab mates. Kevin's doing well. He's been working long hours and even has to go in on his days off. We don't get to see each other much. Plus, football season has started back up, so I'll be fighting for his attention until February. He got a new calling- he's now the cub master in our stake! I laughed so hard when I found that out, and laughed even harder when I heard he'd have to wear the boyscout uniform. I'm sure he'll do great as the cub master and may even enjoy it at times.

As for other events--Kevin and I did buy season football tickets to the Notre Dame games. Ouch. We went to the Georgia Tech game and left early. We didn't even bother watching the Penn State game. Right now we're trying to figure out how to recoup the cost of our tickets. Unfortunately, the University has revoked ticket exchanges for student tickets. I guess we'll just have to eat it.

Riley is still doing great. He started obedience training last Tuesday and did very well. The training uses collar corrections, which I don't really care for, so Kevin is the main trainer. I also sat in on an agility training class that a neighbor takes his dog to. He said he wanted me to see how it works, but I think he just wanted to show off how great his dog is. It was actually more fun to watch the different owners with their dogs; you can tell a lot about a person by watching them interact with their pets. I think Riley would really enjoy the classes; he'd like all the obstacles and socializing with the other dogs. I don't think we'll start it right away. It'd be too much for us to go to obedience school and agility school at the same time. I'm running on empty as it is. He's still growing, and I don't think he'll ever stop. Meanwhile, he acts like a lap dog. I'm still amazed at how smart he is (spoken like a true mother). Not much else is going on. Just work and Riley. But we're enjoying it!

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

2007-08-23T21:21:00.001-04:00

Okay, we've slacked off big time. Sorry. BTW- Natalie and Ulli did make it to South Bend, albeit a day later than anticipated. And Kevin's mom and aunt made it here without any glitches, thankfully. I swear there is a traveling curse in my family. Any trip I take using an airplane is bound to be late or some freak accident will occur, preventing my travel. Kevin and I missed our connecting flight to Egypt due to a bad engine on a Delta plane and ended up losing a whole day stuck in a second rate hotel in New York. We missed the first day of our Egypt tour at Giza and the great pyramids (although we did make it up by staying a day longer). Another time, Kevin and I were supposed to fly with my family to California to see the King Tut exhibit, but the night before I broke my eye socket at Aikido and air leaked from my sinuses into my eyelids causing alarming swelling. I had surgery instead of the trip (it was okay since Kevin and I had seen the good King Tut stuff in Egypt and Kevin got some cool pictures of my eye). And my favorite: I flew out to interview at Notre Dame with Dave, a fellow BYU student. I warned him of my curse, but he didn't believe me. We made it to South Bend just fine, but along the way back, our flight was diverted to Fargo, North Dakota, so we could deliver airplane parts to the local airport. Random. We ended up sitting on the tarmac for over an hour. Oh well, I would never have been to Fargo otherwise. So, Natalie and Ulli's travel tragedies aren't all that surprising to me. It didn't end there, however. Sometime during Natalie's trip back to Utah, her Wii games were misplaced and lost. Her trip out here was a bit more costly than we had anticipated. But thank you for coming! I really enjoyed having everyone visit. Mostly our guests slept 'til noon and relaxed. Everyone loved Riley, and it was really nice to have extra dogsitters around.

As for other news, I went to an allergist last week (I made the appointment three months ago while my hayfever was driving me nuts). They tested forty different compounds on my back (it's quite painful being stuck with over forty needles) and discovered I am significantly allergic to all forty compounds and severely allergic to all but two. Joy. It's a miracle I'm alive. The doctor sent me home with literally a bag full of drugs to try. I'm actually worse than my sickly sister- how can that be?!

As for Riley, he's huge. Kevin's been teaching him tricks non-stop. Riley can now sit, come, lay down, shake, crawl, rollover, retrieve, hide, and play dead. I don't know who I'm more impressed with- Kevin or Riley. He's also taken a liking to agility exercises. A fellow dog owner we've met on our walks has a little course set up in his backyard where he practices with his dog. He's taught Riley how to jump over a two and a half foot hurdle, and Riley will now jump over piles of bricks or other obstacles around. We're thinking of putting him in agility school after obedience school. Riley is now six months old (almost seven), so he can start obedience school. He'll begin in a couple of weeks. Riley has also reached the "lapdog" phase meaning he'll sit on you whenever you sit down. As soon as you sit down on the couch or floor, he plops himself down on your lap (or laps- he's now big enough to cover me and Kevin). He's still doing great and keeping us very busy.

School starts next week. Joy. Classes may actually be a nice break from the breakneck speed my lab work has been going at. It's been raining here in South Bend for the past couple of weeks. It usually clears up in the day, enough to make it muggy, then big thunderstorms develop in the middle of the night so the thunder can wake you up, and it doesn't matter if your eyes are closed or open because the lightning is so bright. The storms have been severe (as you've probably heard on the news), but South Bend's been okay. Good luck with school and all! And go see The Simpsons' Movie, for no other reason than spider pig.

Drifting

2007-08-21T09:07:00.001-04:00

Drifting
Originally uploaded by anyoungkevin

This is mainly a test. I'm trying to do a blog entry from my flickr site and I wanted to see how it posted. :-)

The Miller Hotel is Open

2007-08-01T20:23:00.000-04:00

It was a busy past week! An old BYU friend passed through here on his way to dental school in Maryland. He brought his parents, wife, and two kids. I was worried our home wouldn't be able to accommodate us all (especially with one bathroom), but we all fit. The finished basement was a life saver. We put the parents upstairs and the rest downstairs with a TV and dvd player. It worked great.

Kevin's actual birthday was low key. The visitors didn't leave until noon, and I had to work. But we had a celebratory dinner with the Behling's and had a good time.

Last Friday we spent the day helping the Behling's move to Chicago. Garrett got a job at Price Waterhouse Coopers there. They moved into a brand new complex in Oak Park--they'll love it there. Kevin helped them load in the morning and then we both went up to Chicago to help them unload. It's a good thing we went, because nobody else showed up to help them move. The missionaries came by for the last half hour when most of the stuff had already been moved in. It was super hot and muggy too; we were all drenched in sweat by the time we finished. The Behling's treated us to pizza at a nearby Giordono's, so all was well.

Kevin had a work party on Saturday. He was the official cameraman for the event and took that responsibility very seriously. It was nice getting to meet his coworkers and put faces to names. I liked it because it was at a park with swings.

Our next set of visitors arrive today. My sister Natalie and Ulli are coming for a visit. I'm really excited to show them around. Their trip was a last minute decision. Natalie decided last Monday that she wanted to come out, and that she wanted to come out on August 1st (then a week away). We decided to use our Delta skymiles to purchase the tickets, which began a two day wrestle to redeem them and ensure we had enough miles to purchase the tickets. After all the hustle, everything was finally ready to go- until today. Nat and Ulli missed their flight. That set off a series of scrambles to get them on another flight at a reasonable time. They ended up waiting for seven hours for another flight that had a layover in Cincinnati. Now there's a delay in Cincinnati and they won't leave until midnight at the earliest. That will put them in Chicago at 1:30 am at the earliest. We told them it would be best if the airline got them a hotel in Chicago. Hopefully they'll make it here.

Kevin's mom and aunt are also coming out on Friday (they had their trip planned well in advance). They'll be staying for a short time (until Tuesday) and want the trip to be pure relaxation (perfect, since they will be in South Bend, Indiana). After fitting eight people into the house, six shouldn't be that bad. We're just happy to have visitors.

I've got the yard finished except for two plants I need to order from a catalog. It looks great. I'm very pleased with how everything turned out...except for those darn rabbits. I bought a repellent spray, but you have to reapply it often. I just bought some pelleted predator urine (I don't know how they did that) to place around my plants. We'll see if that works.

Well, I guess I better get some more things ready for our visitors.

Michiana Festivities

2007-07-23T20:29:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was the Venetian Festival in St. Joseph, Michigan (about 35 minutes from South Bend). We had heard good things about it and decided to check it out. We went Saturday evening with the Behling's and ended up parking over a mile away from the beach where it was held. As we were walking to the beach, Kevin spotted some LDS missionaries coming out of a house. He mentioned it in passing to us. One of our friends decided she wanted to talk to the missionaries and turned around-- turns out one of the missionaries was her cousin! Small world! Anyways, the Venetian Festival wasn't all it was talked up to be. The beach was beautiful and looked like it belonged in California rather than Michigan, but the actual festival was mostly food stands and a small carnival. Even worse, they made you purchase food tickets for the stands. We ended up standing in line for food tickets and another hour in the food stand lines to pay $7 for a gyro or small portion of barbecue! It was a total rip-off! By the time we got done eating, the sun had set and we only had an hour before the fireworks started. We wandered around the festival but weren't impressed. But the beach was great. We found a nice spot to view the fireworks, and Kevin dug us out a nice little couch in the sand. The fireworks were fantastic! They lit them off the pier over Lake Michigan and had a half an hour show. Next time, we'll just go for the fireworks.

We had an early celebration of Kevin's birthday on Sunday. The Behling's and Janetski's came over, and we played games and had cake and ice cream. Happy birthday, Kevin!! Also, congratulations to Michael and his fiancee! This week is going to be a very eventful week with lots of visitors. I have a friend from BYU coming with his parents and family to spend the night on their way to Maryland. And Kevin's mom and aunt are coming next week. Yeah for visitors! I thought August would be uneventful, but things keep piling on. Kevin's work is very busy with so many people gone on vacations or calling in "sick." He's decided he'd like to get his MBA while here, so he's gearing up for the GMAT. My work is still keeping me busy 24-7. I'm liking it though. And Riley is as cute as ever. He's still growing as fast as ever and keeps us very busy. Hope everyone enjoys what's left of the summer- it's going fast!

Support Drew

2007-07-16T21:55:00.000-04:00

Some friends from back home have been going through some very tough times. Their 7 year old son was diagnosed with cancer this past spring. Check out their website for Drew at www.drewsfight.org and help support Drew.

Happy Fourth and Such

2007-07-16T16:44:00.000-04:00

Hope everyone had a good Fourth of July. We went to the Transformers movie- it's a good brainless action movie that's enjoyable to nostalgic cartoon and toy fans. We still can't figure out why the Decepticons turn into cool useful military objects like F-16's, tanks, and black hawks while the good guys are objects like sports cars and diesels. Oh well. We had a barbecue with three other couples and enjoyed the night stuffing ourselves and talking. None of us felt like chipping in money to buy personal fireworks, even though you can have all the fun kinds here in Indiana. In fact, the laws here are so loose, that you can buy and use fireworks all year round. And it certainly seems like people around here intend to do just that. At least a month before the Fourth, the fireworks began and are still going on every night. The Fourth was crazy here. It felt and sounded like we were in a war zone. The percussions and sounds of the personal fireworks were strong enough to rattle your bones and light up the sky. The light from the fireworks weren't even dimmed by the thick layer of smoke that filled the street and lasted for two days. It was quite the experience for a girl used to desert bans on fireworks where sparklers were even considered a hazard. All in all, it was a good holiday although I still had to work.

I've been working 6-7 days a week now. My lab work is starting to really heat up and requires me to spend more time there. Growing malaria parasites is a lot like having another pet that you have to feed and check up on daily. It could be worse- our lab tech came in to work on the Fourth too. She only stayed for a few minutes before leaving because she wasn't feeling well. Well, she was nine months pregnant and ended up having the baby at 11:56 pm that day! She's quite the workaholic. She sent out an e-mail from her hospital room at 11:30 pm as the doctor was trying to take her to the delivery room. She kept telling him to wait while she finished the e-mail. Both mom and baby are doing great.

I spent last Tuesday through Friday in Bloomington, IN for some meetings. It was a lot of sitting and listening- 18 hours of it! I must be getting older because half way through the meetings my lower back started to really cramp up, and I had a hard time getting up and down. The meetings were alright, and I had a great time with my labmates. I missed Kevin and Riley, but both seemed fine when I got back. Kevin had taught Riley to shake hands and crawl in the four days I was gone!

Riley is as cute as ever. He's big and can now outrun us both. He's getting a little more headstrong but is still a good dog. He's lost most of his baby teeth. Just a few more to go. More later!

Belated Updates

2007-06-30T08:26:00.000-04:00

Wow! Another month has zipped by and we haven't had a chance to update out blog. I'll give a quick summary of what has been going on.

The end of May Becky went back to Utah to visit family. It was a short busy trip for her as she was only there for 3 days. Here is an exert from a blog entry that was never posted to the blog on her trip to Utah.

"My trip to Utah was fantastic! It was a real treat to get to see so many friends and family members. Congrats to Natalie and Ulli on the beautiful ceremony and on the new house! Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures of the event because I was having too much fun talking to people. It was too short of a trip, but I had a great time."

About a week and a half later (June 7th-15th) Becky's parents came out here to visit us. This was their first trip out to see us here in South Bend. It was fun to be able to show them around the area. While they were here, they did a ton of yard work with Becky. They ended up getting 3 trees planted and redoing all of the flower beds. This included having to cut the grass back to expand the beds. They found a lot of buried treasures in the grass that we did not know were there (about 100 bricks, concrete fence posts etc.). Who knows what else is lurking under our lawn? It looks great and will just need a little time to grow. We'll just need to make sure the rabbits don't eat all of our hard work.

The last night Becky's parents were here (14th) we stayed the night in Chicago with them so we could see some of the sites and visit other family members who live there. Timing worked out pretty well for us because Todd , my brother, flew into Chicago for some meetings this weekend as well. That night we ate at a pizza place called Giordano's. Here we had the true Chicago deep dish pizza. I could only eat two pieces then I was stuffed. The rest of the night we just walked around and took some pictures of the city at night.

The next day we took a archaeological boat tour of the city with Janet and Dennis. It was fun to see all of the buildings and such, but it was very hot. We then spent the next 4 hours driving Becky's parents to the airport and then driving back to the city so we could meet Todd again.

Todd's time with us was short. We picked him up at his hotel at 5:30 and left Chicago to head back to South Bend. He wanted to see our house, South Bend, and Notre Dame. However, traffic was so horrible that a normal 1 hour and 45 min drive took about 3 1/2 hours to get home. It wasn't until 9:30 that we made it back. It made it a little hard to give Todd a tour of campus with no light. The picture is of Todd trying to download his photos to his laptop to free up space on his memory card. Since his laptop battery was dead he had to find an outlet in the parking garage to download them.

The next morning I left with Todd at 7:30 to go back to Chicago. Todd had one more half day of meeting to attend. I'll also add that during his trip he has been having to limp around due to surgery he had on his knee two weeks ago. This was because he crashed a motorcycle and broke 3 of his ribs and filled his knee with gravel/dirt. So, he has been on some medication to help ease the pain.

I dropped Todd off at his meeting and then spent the next 4 hours wandering Chicago taking pictures. (I really enjoy my new digital SLR Rebel XTi) I then met up with Todd for lunch and we then wandered the city 'til he had to catch his shuttle to fly back to Seattle.

Riley is doing well. Growing like a weed (could be 'cause he eats so many of them). He is about 50 lbs. and is as cute as ever. He is 5 months old now, and in one more month we will be able to enroll him in obedience school. He does a great job listening to us now, especially if we have a treat. But if there is anyone else around he gets too excited and has a harder time listening to us.

Things are going well with us. We will do a better job at updating the blog so you don't have to read such a long boring post. Short boring posts are so much easier to deal with. No big plan for the 4th as of yet. Probably will just have a little barbecue.

5 Years and Going

2007-05-25T15:12:00.000-04:00

Today is our 5th anniversary and I would like to let my wife know that I love her. It's hard to believe that it's been 5 years already and I'm looking forward to the many more to come. (Isn't she beautiful!)

Home Alone

2007-05-24T21:14:00.000-04:00

Becky left me for the weekend so she could go back to Utah to visit family. I'm stuck here holding the fort down and keeping myself company. Everything else is going well for us. Riley is just getting so big and is learning new tricks every day. I'll put another post up tomorrow for another event that we are having.

School, Tornadoes, and Booze

2007-05-19T14:35:00.000-04:00

It's been a very eventful week. Riley had his first obedience school training session on Monday. It was mostly a crash course for new dog owners. Riley did great and liked playing with the trainer. He knows how to sit and lie down, and we're working on stay and come. He won't have another session until he's six months old.

Tuesday was quite an adventure. A storm warning went into effect around 5pm, right as I was getting ready to bike home. The tornado warning sirens were going off, and being unsure of what to do, I went back inside to find someone who might know what to do. Instead, I found Dave (the guy we moved out here with), and neither of us knew what to do (we're both from the West! What do we know about tornadoes?!). So, we went around asking various people for a ride home, since Kevin was locked in the basement at his work, and we really wanted to go home (it was after 5pm!). We were told there was a tornado to the north of us, and we needed to stay put. After a while, the wind died down, and Dave and I were brave enough to venture outside. It didn't look too bad to us. There were a lot of fallen branches, some of them quite large, but it looked safe to us. We both got our bikes and tried to decide if we could make it home safely. We were warned by the janitors that a major downpour was headed our way fast. When Father Streit came out of the building, hopped on his bike, and took off, Dave and I decided we should make our move. We sped home, trying to beat the rain. At first, our bike ride wasn't too bad. There were fallen branches we had to dodge occasionally, but the storm didn't seem to have hit the area very hard. At least, until we came across a massive tree that had fallen across the road. We tried to cut across a parking lot, since the road was completely blocked but had to dodge an additional tree that had fallen in the parking lot. Along our route, there were two massive fallen marquees in parking lots and many rescue crews out trying to clean things up. I made it home just fine, seven minutes before the rain hit. Our house was still standing, although a large branch fell from our neighbor's tree. It's a miracle it didn't pull down the power line on its way down. Once home, I learned how bad the storm really had been. The winds blew at 60-70 mph and blew a spire off the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. It was also enough to blow down 30 trees around campus. Nobody was hurt, but there was a lot of damage around town.

Later that night, we had another adventure. I was home with Riley when I heard a crash outside. I ran to the window in time to see our next door neighbor driving over the curb and sidewalk into her driveway, dragging a street sign underneath her car. I thought the storm must have blown the sign into her driveway, and she accidentally drove over it. But a few minutes later, another neighbor from across the street came running over to the car yelling, "Are you okay? Are you okay?" I went outside to see what was going on. I caught the neighbor from across the street as she left my next door neighbor's house. Apparently, my next door neighbor was dead drunk and had been driving. She pulled into the wrong driveway and backed up onto the sidewalk and curb and into a "pedestrian" warning sign. She dragged the sign with her as she pulled forward into her own driveway. She managed to pull the entire sign out of the ground (it was buried 4 feet deep), bent it to a 90 degree angle, and dragged the sign 30 feet. She stumbled out of her car and onto her porch where she collapsed. That's when our neighbor across the street ran over. She and her husband had seen the whole incident. Our drunk neighbor's pants also managed to fall off as she stumbled on the porch, and she ran inside to grab a towel. She slurred something to our other neighbor before shutting the door and collapsing in the entryway. We weren't really sure what to do. She was obviously drunk (you could smell her from across the yard), and we were worried she might need medical help (she lives alone). It turned out she was fine but must have had a major hangover the next day. Needless to say, we aren't happy with her behavior. There are lots of children in this neighborhood; she was lucky the storm kept people inside that night. There will likely be a talk with her sometime in the future.

That's it for now. Things are starting to wind down. I finished my GLOBES module this week and am now done with courses for the summer. I'll be focusing on lab work from now on. Kevin bought a new Canon Rebel and has enjoyed taking pictures of everything. Stay safe! There are lots of crazy people out there!

Thank You, Auntie Gail!!

2007-05-10T20:01:00.000-04:00

Riley would like to thank Auntie Gail for sending him the wonderful care package. He enjoys the treats and toys, but liked the box even more. Thanks for the warm welcome! Riley is still a handful but is definitely maturing. He had a veterinary appointment last Friday, and we found out he now weighs thirty pounds! He doubled his weight in four weeks! His baby fat is almost all gone now, and he is starting to gain muscle. He jumps higher and now runs around everywhere he goes. He hasn't liked the heat lately (neither have I), and refuses to go on walks if it's too warm. We've already started using the air conditioning because of him; he won't overheat so much once he stops growing and his metabolism slows.

In other news, I'll be heading to Utah later this month to celebrate Natalie and Ulli and their new home. It'll be a short trip since I have so much lab work to do, but I'm excited to see family even if it's for a short period of time. I just finished my final and paper today. It doesn't feel like that big of an accomplishment since I have a summer module to complete next week. It never ends. Not much else is new here, so we'll just fill in the space with Riley pics. Have a great week!

Riley's First Month

2007-05-03T10:04:00.000-04:00

It has now been one month since Riley joined our family. We're all doing great. Riley had a real breakthrough this morning- he went out of the house by himself, went to the bathroom in the backyard, and came right back into the house without us even calling to him! We're so proud of our big boy. He's now 12 weeks old and is growing up fast. It doesn't feel like he's only been with us for one month. The time has flown by, and it's hard to imagine a time we didn't have to visit the backyard every hour. Riley is now going on walks twice a day and can walk around four blocks. I think we've met most of the neighbors on our block. Everyone loves puppies and Riley loves the attention. We've even found potential playmates for him. It's really hard to walk him anytime on the weekends; we always end up stuck talking to various neighbors, making our walks take hours! We love our neighbors and our neighborhood. It's a great place to be.

Kevin's parents came out to visit us a couple of weeks ago. They flew into Chicago on a Wednesday and we met them there. We went to a great restaurant in the loop and went to Wicked at the Oriental Theater. It was fantastic! It's a must see for everyone. Kevin and his parents stayed overnight in Chicago while I drove home to take care of the puppy. Our neighbor took care of Riley that evening, but I didn't want to make them get up at 2:30am and 5:30am to take him out for a bathroom break. I drove all night and got back to South Bend at 2:30am. I got three hours of sleep before Riley woke up again to start his morning routine. It was a rough day- I had classes and meetings plus had to rush home twice during the day to take care of Riley. I was able to speed to and from school the 2.8 miles on my bike in 8 minutes! I was dead tired that night though when Kevin and his parents arrived. We all went out for dinner (I was too tired to cook) that night and relaxed at home.

Kevin showed Diane and Dennis around South Bend the next day. They went downtown and explored a bit. That evening I took them on a tour of the Notre Dame campus and to the bookstore (which is 70% ND paraphernalia, 10% school supplies, and 20% books- most are textbooks). On the weekend, we had breakfast at the Farmer's Market and drove to Amish country for an Amish style dinner. We barbecued on Kevin's new grill on Sunday and invited some friends too. Monday was the day they were flying out and had to drive back to Chicago. It was a great visit, although I didn't get to see them much since I had school (it was hectic time of the semester too- one week before classes end). Having Riley around also made things difficult, but Diane actually liked him.

Classes are finally over with. I have a paper to write and one take home final before I can leave this semester behind. Lab work isn't going too great, but all my labmates are super supportive and helpful. Stupid Plasmodium falciparium and it's 80% A-T richness! Not much else going on. We're going to see Flock of Dodos tonight with some friends, and Riley has his next veterinary appointment tomorrow. Funny little side note: my parents are now thinking of getting a dog. My dad says it's because there are too many wild cats eating his song birds. I have other theories.

Take care!

Riley Colbert Miller

2007-04-12T20:52:00.000-04:00

Our pup is officially named Riley Colbert Miller. His middle name comes from Stephen Colbert's "The Colbert Report" (yes, I'm a geek). Riley is happy and adjusted well. He's a very mellow dog (although he has his moments) and will grow up to be a very patient dog. I've been extremely impressed with him so far and very proud of him. He still has accidents in the house, but they are averaging two a day with most of them our fault. We've got a routine down that requires us taking him out at 2am and 6am. Not too bad. Kevin does most of the hard work, since I'm stressing with school and the end of the semester.

We are adjusting well to parental life. There are three days a week where Riley has to be kept in his crate for 3-4 hours while we're at work or school. Kevin installed a webcam so we could watch him while away, but it only makes me worry more. I fret about every little moment he's awake and alone in his crate. Plus, I hardly get any work done because I'm always checking in on him.

He still gnaws on me but is getting better. He is still a bit of a mama's boy and won't leave me alone if I'm in the room with him. He has to be in my lap; if I'm sitting at my desk, he'll try to jump. He also pouts. If he's embarrassed or had his feelings hurt, he'll go into another room and just sit there until you call to him or go get him. What can I say--he's a true Miller!

He sleeps and sleeps! And while he sleeps he snores. He has the largest variety of snores I've ever heard; each day he comes up with a new one. He will definitely not ever be sleeping in our bed with us. One snorer is bad enough. It's fun watching him sleep in all his different positions and see how far he migrates from his original spot.

So, life is good with our 9-week old pup. We've only had him for a week, but it feels like months! I really miss being able to sleep in, but we're adjusting and are very happy to have him in our lives.

As for other news...the weather here is crazy. We've had snow for the past week and freezing temperatures. Luckily, Riley likes the snow, but I'm sick of it. I was really cursing the weather yesterday. I had stayed home in the morning with Riley but had to be at school by noon for a special lunch with Dr. Tom Wellems, director of the NIH malarial research team. I left the house at 11am and planned to catch the 11:17am bus which is a ten minute walk from our house. I got a block from our house when the snow turned to rain, which, you all know, is much worse to walk in than snow. I was already cold and frozen by the time I made it to the bus stop, 5 minutes before the bus came. Well, I waited and waited in the cold rain for the bus, but it never came. I was getting so cold and wet that I began to pray over and over that the next vehicle to come into view would be the bus. Well, at 11:37am I see the bus coming down the road and waved at the driver to stop. The driver looked at me and kept right on going. I stood in shock as I watched the bus drive down the road and out of sight. I was so cold and wet, that I was on the verge of tears. Not wanting to chance waiting for the next bus or walk the 30 minutes to campus, I slogged back home as fast as I could, took our extra car (with a low tire), sped to school, and chanced a parking ticket at Notre Dame. I was only a few minutes late, although I was soaked and really upset. My jeans were stuck to me, my coat completely soaked, my backpack with books and papers were wet, and my hair was sopping wet. Oh well. Amazingly, I was able to laugh about it once I was at school and had stood under the hand-dryers for a while.

Easter was good. We had the Behling's and Janetski's over for a nice ham dinner and just visited for hours. Riley was great and enjoyed all the noisy people around. Hope you all had a nice Easter and that things are going well!

Puppy - Days 1, 2, & 3

2007-04-06T18:56:00.000-04:00

DAY 1:

He's finally here! And I'm exhausted! We got him home without any problems (except it was snowing and really cold outside); he slept on my lap most of the way home and even started snoring. When we got to the house though, he got really nervous and upset. He was upset that we took him away from his mom and brothers, and he wouldn't even look at us. We'd set him down and he'd go to the furthest corner of the room and just lay there. He really liked his crate because it was small and dark like the breeder's kennel. But he just wouldn't warm up to us, and I started to worry. He slept most of the time and cried only when he needed to go out.

DAY 2:

I had to go to school, so Kevin had puppy duty all day. The pup had an appointment with the vet and was the big hit of the office. He was well behaved and got a rope toy for being so good. He really started warming up to us and began crying for attention. He played all day but still had his mood swings when he'd be upset with us. They didn't last long. Mostly he just wanted to play.

DAY 3:

The pup's been playing all day and is doing great. We're at about 50% for house training. We're getting better at picking up on the signs, but there are times he just doesn't want to go outside. He's now accepted us completely and will come when we call him (most of the time). His favorite pastime is crawling on top of me and nipping at anything sticking out- toes, hair, knees, fingers, elbows, shirt sleeves, anything. It's hard stopping him from doing that bad behavior. It's also time we named him. We're thinking of naming him Riley Miller.

So, everything is going well with the Miller clan here. I'm really really tired, but Kevin is going strong. I'm no good at the sleep disruption. I hope I'm up to puppy duty by myself for the next couple of days. Hope everyone has a happy Easter! We'll be taking a dog to the bathroom the whole day, but will have a nice big dinner with friends on Sunday night. We'll keep you updated on puppy developments. For now its time to catch some shut eye.

Update 2

2007-04-04T10:28:00.000-04:00

Today is the big day! We'll be picking up the puppy tonight around 6pm. I'm excited, but a bit freaked out. I'm swamped with school and lab work and already feel really stretched. Kevin's been a trooper and has a puppy webcam all set up so we can keep an eye on the little one while we're at work. There's still lots of stuff we need to finish, but ready-or-not, the pup is coming home today. We have most of the essentials (a crate, toys, and a pooper scooper- and Kevin keeps buying tons of doggy treats) and have a vet appointment set up for tomorrow. One major complication is the weather. After three weeks of gorgeous weather, it has decided to turn back to winter. It's supposed to snow for the next few days with highs in the mid 30's! Neither us nor the pup will want to be going outside every two hours. Anyways, we'll be keeping our blog updated on puppy developments. Meanwhile, enjoy these diary entries--

Excerpts from a dog's diary:

6:00am - At last! I Go Pee! My favorite thing!
8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
6:00 pm - They're home! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

Excerpts from a Cat's Diary

Day 983 of my captivity. My captors continue to taunt
me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a
"good little hunter" I am. Imbeciles!

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices
tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the
duration of the event. However, I could hear the
noises and smell the food. I overheard that my
confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I
must learn what this means, and how to use it to my
advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to
assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his
feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow
-- but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies
and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is
regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to
return. He is obviously retarded. The bird has got to
be an informant. I observe him communicate with the
guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my
every move. My captors have arranged protective
custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe.
For now...

Deep Thought Of the Day:

2007-04-03T14:26:00.000-04:00

Some people are like slinkies, they don't really serve a purpose, but they bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.

Charles has a licking problem

2007-03-30T13:18:00.000-04:00

I've been looking at some YouTube videos since I embeded the last video. I came across this video and was laughing hysterically. I don't know why...maybe I've been locked in the lab too long. Hope it makes you smile.

From YouTube:

"My dog Charles has a licking problem. I wrote a song about the licking, which accompanies this video."

Women, Know Your Limits

2007-03-30T12:36:00.000-04:00

Update 1

2007-03-27T22:06:00.000-04:00

Okay, okay...Kevin and I are getting a puppy. It's taken us a long time, but Kevin will finally get his first dog. We're really excited--and I'm super nervous. We're going to have to change our lifestyle a lot, but it will all be worth it. We picked out an English yellow labrador retriever from a breeder who trains and competes his dogs in dog shows. Our puppy is a descendant of some champs. We thought about rescuing a dog, but we were worried about getting a sick dog (physically and psychologically) for our first dog. We need a dog that we know will be healthy and that will be an easier first dog for us to train and handle. This is a picture of our pup. He's seven weeks old and won't be ready to come home with us for another week and a half. He's really sleepy in this picture because Kevin wore him out playing with him. We're busy trying to get the house and yard ready for him and are figuring out the house training schedule, since puppies have to be taken out every two hours, day or night. I'm sure you will be hearing more about him.

As for other happenings...

Not much else is going on. We've got puppies on the brain. I'm trying to get plenty of sleep before that gets taken away, and we've had a lot of shopping to do. If you've got time, check out this video clip taken from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart where Jon interviews John Bolton!

I would like to see if Bolton sticks to his view that the president should always be fully supported by every aspect of the government if (I mean, when) Democrats take control of the presidency. Enjoy Bolton's convoluted reasonings and his display of blind loyalty that characterizes this administration so well. If you only watch part of it, watch the last 40 seconds of it where Bolton talks about job performance. Classic. How can there still be 36% out there?

The Miller family will be growing!

2007-03-23T17:35:00.000-04:00

Kevin and I would like to make an announcement: After nearly five years of marriage, we have decided it's finally time for our family to grow. I took a lot of convincing but finally agreed. I'm nervous about how all of this is going to go, since I'm extremely busy with school and lab work, but Kevin has promised to take the extra initiative to make sure everything goes smoothly. He's even promised to be the primary care taker for the little one. Now that we've finally made the decision, I'm really excited and can't wait. We'll keep you all posted on how things go.

On to other things. I finally picked a lab (it only took my eight months)! I am the newest lab member of Dr. Michael Ferdig's lab. I'll be studying malarial genomics (Plasmodium falciparum) and drug resistance. I'm really nervous about joining this lab because I have very little experience in genomics. But I'm told by many trusted advisers that adding genomics to my background in genetics and ecology will make me highly marketable (for what, I'm not sure). Plus, Dr. Ferdig has numerous connections with the NIH, which will come in handy if I decide not to go into academia. The other lab members are great too and were a major reason why I picked this lab. I have a project to start on, but I'm also hoping to develop a more integrative project later on down the road.

I guess that's it for now.

Spring Break Chicago - St Patrick's Day

2007-03-20T00:12:00.000-04:00

It was Notre Dame's spring break this last week, so we decided to take advantage of it and take a trip to Chicago for a couple of days.

The first day of the trip was mainly spent driving and sitting in traffic on roads under construction. However, we finally made it to the temple in North Chicago and were able to attend a session. We ended up buying an I-PASS for the toll roads, so we don't have to worry about saving all of our change anymore. It automatically withdraws the toll from our account so we can go though the fast lanes at the toll booths.

We finally made it to our hotel around 7pm, then went and got some dinner at Trattoria #10 (a nearby Italian restaurant). The food was good but more fancy than filling. After dinner, we just went back to the hotel and crashed.

Then next day we meet Becky's Great Aunt Harue and her grand daughter Katiana at the aquarium. She is a member there and was kind enough to take us through. It is an excellent aquarium, and we enjoyed our time there. Afterwards, we went to the Oriental Theater and bought tickets to see Wicked next month when my parents come out.

We then met up with Jim (a cousin) and went to the Sears tower and paid 12 bucks for an elevator ride to the top. It was a great view of the city and is one of those things you have to do once in Chicago.

We had dinner at Hae Woon Dae, a Korean restaurant that was very good and very authentic. It used a charcoal grill at the table to cook the kalbi. It was a fun little trip, although we missed the big parade in Chicago and dyeing the river green. We did find a fountain that had dyed green water, so we took a picture by it.

High Water Bill?

2007-03-14T08:38:00.000-04:00

Water Bill... Read text first, then see attached video

Jennifer and Jim kept getting huge water bills. They knew
beyond a doubt that the bills weren't representative of their actual
usage, and no matter how they tried to conserve, the high bills
continued. Although they could see nothing wrong, they had everything
checked for leaks or problems: first the water meter, then outdoor
pipes, indoor pipes, underground pipes, faucets, toilets, washer, ice
maker, etc. -- all to no avail. One day Jim was sick and stayed home in
bed, but kept hearing water running downstairs. He finally tore
himself from his sick bed to investigate, and stumbled onto the cause
of such high water bills. Apparently this had been happening all day
long when they were not at home. Knowing that few would believe him, he
taped a segment of the 'problem' for posterity -- see attached video .
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FOX News

2007-03-12T21:21:00.000-04:00

I found another link on Digg.com. This one is about Fox News and it's "fair and balanced" views. It's a compilation of a bunch of their headlines from TV and their website. It's entertaining to look at it. If you haven't looked at Digg.com before, you really ought to. It's a great website.

Check this out!

2007-03-10T15:16:00.000-05:00

I found this fun link on Digg.com. It's a personality test of sorts that uses pictures instead of questions. Check it out. It's fun and only takes a minute. Link: http://dna.imagini.net/friends/

Should We Get a Dog or a Kid?

2007-03-07T20:51:00.000-05:00

Have you seen this e-mail? Someone's been listening in on my conversations with Kevin...and then added pictures. At least you won't get in trouble for locking a dog up in a cage.

More Birthday Wishes!!

2007-03-05T16:01:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to Ulli and Dennis!! Sorry for the late wishes, but our blog got locked for a couple weeks (they thought it was a spam site!). Not much is going on here. I'm just getting over a nasty cold and looking forward to Spring Break.

Kevin and I were able to go to a Second City show on campus. It's the improv group that got Stephen Colbert started. The show was called "Truth, justice or the American way." It was great fun.

Honestly, not much else is going on. I've been couped up at home trying to get better so I can start working in the lab again. I'm also still trying to figure out which lab to join. I did find a really cool way to hem jeans (short people will appreciate this). It's a way to hem called a Euro hem where you don't have to cut off the original hem; instead you fold the pant legs. I was totally skeptical at first but tried it out on two pairs of pants, and it works great. Plus it's super fast. Here's the link to a website that explains it really well: http://daciaray.com/. I know this isn't the most exciting thing to talk about, but I know a lot of my short, Japanese family members read this and might find the link useful.

Well, have a good week! Stay healthy!

Signs to Keep you Safe

2007-02-15T13:26:00.000-05:00

The US government has a new website, http://www.ready.gov. The fun thing is that these pictures are so ambiguous they could mean anything! Here are a few interpretations. Feel free to come up with some of your own.

If you have set yourself on fire, do not run.
If you are sprayed with an unknown substance, stand and think about it instead of seeing a doctor.
After all life is gone, modern appliances will continue to run forever. Think about it.
There is a reason you failed chemistry.
If your intended destination is suddenly vaporized, consider pulling over and watching the cool light show.
Try to absorb as much of the radiation as possible with your body. The current world record is 5 minutes, 12 seconds.
If you spot terrorism, blow your anti-terrorism whistle. If you are Vin Diesel, yell really loud.

Birthdays, Sub-zero Temps, and Football

2007-02-09T22:10:00.000-05:00

First off, we want to wish Natalie a happy birthday!! We're bummed we couldn't be there to celebrate with her, but we hope it was a good one. If anyone is still looking for a gift for her, she really wants a Wii. Happy birthday!!

Brrr! We've been bundled up for the past couple of weeks. After all the big snow storms, temperatures dropped to sub-zero temps with wind chills of -20 degrees. Schools and businesses shut down, and we were all advised not to be outside for longer than 30 minutes for fear of frostbite. We've never experienced this cold of weather before, but we survived. Notre Dame and Crowe both stayed open, and life went on as usual.

Not much else is going on. We had a Super Bowl party with some friends. It was a great excuse to pig out on all sorts of food. The game was a big deal here because the two teams are both nearby. I'd say that most of South Bend was for the Bears. State boundaries don't mean much here in Michiana.

School is still going well. I'm feeling pressure to pick a lab to work in. It's going to be a hard decision since both have a lot of good things going for them. Meanwhile, I'm having fun and working hard. Kevin's job is starting to pick up too with tax season in full swing. Hope you all are staying warm!

And have a happy Valentine's Day!!

Snow Days

2007-01-30T21:45:00.000-05:00

It's been crazy for the past few days- the snow finally decided to come, and now it won't stop! It's been snowing since Saturday and won't let up. We woke up Sunday morning to find a few inches of snow on the ground and more snow coming down. We didn't think much of it, so we shoveled the driveway and sidewalks then headed to 9 o'clock church. Ironically, despite all the snow and the unplowed streets, we made it to church in record time because no one was out that morning. The church was also empty. Our bishop was just finishing up some meetings and told us they had decided to cancel all the wards. So, we headed back home. I was glad to have a break from teaching primary, but that also means I have no new kid stories. Sorry.

Work and school has gone on, along with the snow. We now have close to a foot and a half of snow accumulation. We'll get a break from the snow tomorrow, but then it starts back up into the weekend. Kevin went and bought another snow shovel so we could decrease the time it takes us to dig out each morning. South Bend is still up and running, which is a miracle since they refuse to plow and salt the streets. There is only one road in town that is cleared so you can actually see some pavement, but it is also a state road. The rest of the roads in South Bend are in very sad shape and will only get worse with temperatures plunging into single digits tomorrow. No one can figure out what happened to all the snow money.

Other happenings...we went to a Harlem Globetrotters show on Friday. We went with a church group and some friends (hey, the tickets were free!). It was bearable. All I could think of the entire time was how everything I was seeing tied into a Simpsons episode somehow. As for school, I still don't like my GLOBES class. I am now learning how the stereotype of professors (aloft, arrogant, out-of-touch, pompous) came about. Our class is from 6-9pm; I get to school at 7:50am and stay there the whole day. By the time 9pm comes around, I'm very ready to go home. Our professor, however, showed no signs of stopping by 9:15pm. Kevin was picking me up and waiting outside, but the professor kept yammering on and on. I got mad and started putting my things away (non-discretely), pulled on my coat and gloves, walked all the way across the room, and left. I don't know how much longer the guy went on talking. I really don't mind staying longer for a class (I did last semester for our other 6-9pm class- once until 10pm!), but this professor is just interested in hearing himself talk and wasn't adding anything useful. Maybe I'm just rude, or it's hormones, or the fact that I've been in school for 20 years is making me grumpy! But I don't want to set a precedence for the rest of the semester for this guy. Nine o'clock means we should be going home.

Some good news- we found a Korean market just a few minutes away from us. We found it by luck. While we were couch shopping, I noticed a lot of Asian-looking people driving out of a parking lot next to the furniture store. I figured there must be an Asian market there. So, when Kevin wanted to make bulgogi, we went back to the area and found the market. Kevin's always a hit with Koreans. His Korean is still excellent, and he impresses everyone he talks to. I love how Koreans always insist on talking to me even though Kevin is the one who answers them. Anyways, enough for now. Stay warm and dry! Hopefully we won't get snowed in!

What's the matter with kids?!

2007-01-26T10:18:00.000-05:00

I'm not having any luck at all with kids lately. Last Sunday I was teaching my primary class consisting of 5 year olds when I had a little girl try to steal from me (yes, I'm in primary- go ahead and laugh). I had CTR rings (ironically it stands for "Choose The Right") for each of the ten kids in my class. I explained to them I only had enough rings for each to have one for the entire year. Four kids weren't there, so I had four extra rings. One girl was very adamant about passing the rings out to everyone, so I let her. After she'd gone around the room and given everybody a ring, I saw her quickly stuff the four extra rings in various pockets. She then handed me back the empty box. When I asked her where the extra rings were, she said that there weren't any other rings. I told her there should be four extra rings for each of the missing class members. She then reluctantly pulled one extra ring out of a pocket and handed it to me. I asked her where the other three were, and she finally pulled them out of her various pockets and handed them back to me. This isn't the type of behavior I'd expect from a 5 year old. Maybe this next Sunday we'll have a special lesson on honesty.

As for other things in life, it's only the second week of classes and I'm already falling behind. I'm only taking two courses but am afraid they'll be my only preoccupation for the semester. I'm taking a great genomics class taught by Dr. Ferdig. I'm really enjoying that class; it's a bit scattered right now, but Dr. Ferdig really tailors the class to the students' needs. My other course is required for my GLOBES fellowship: it's called 'The History and Philosophy of Human Health and Environment,' which means it's about anything and everything and no one has a clue what to expect. It's every Monday from 6-9pm. So far, it's horrible. We are required to read 300+ pages of text every week plus 2 write-ups and other weekly projects. When we students brought up the heavy reading load, we were told to, "Man up and just do it." The instructor is a history professor, not a biology one. They read a lot in history, but in biology we read what we need to and spend a great deal of our time doing lab research. When some GLOBES biology professors looked at the syllabus, they got angry. They said 6-8 hours of reading a week is fine, but 40 hours is too much. They said they'd talk to the instructor about the coursework load. Hopefully it changes.

As for lab work, I've started working in Dr. McDowell's lab studying sand flies that transmit leishmania. They've really immersed me in the lab work: I've been spending a lot of time there and learning tons. I'm isolating RNA and making cDNA libraries of the salivary gland of the sand fly. It's exciting because I've never done RNA work before. Once we create a library from the different sand fly populations, we'll see if it's possible to create a vaccine against sand fly saliva and, hence, leishmaniasis. If I stay in Dr. McDowell's lab, this will be part of my project.

Not much else is going on. It's finally snowed enough to cover the grass, and it's gotten very cold. I've also decided not to invite that woman with her ill-behaved kids back to my house. I have to deal with other people's kids every Sunday, and that's plenty.

More complaints

2007-01-17T15:53:00.000-05:00

Sorry to be such a whiner today, but I just had some people come visit me, and one of them brought her two children. Her little boy is 3 and her daughter is 1. Kids aren't my forte, but I like them well enough. I love my nieces and nephews and don't mind them, but other people's kids are something else. Especially when they are not well behaved. The visit started off well enough except for the boy standing on my new couch with his snow boots on. After a while, both kids decided to go through the things on my coffee table. After drawing on things and pushing every single button on my remote controls, they headed to our fish tank. The little boy was entranced with the fish, but the girl got bored and decided to climb onto my kitchen table and play with the things up there, throwing some things on the ground. Her mother made little 'tsk'-ing noises (which did nothing) and would occasionally retrieve her daughter and place her back on the couch. The kid would stay there for a couple seconds then beeline it straight back to the kitchen table. After a while I noticed a foul smell coming from the little girl. I kept watching the clock, hoping they'd leave soon but didn't say anything. When the little girl (still at the kitchen table) started playing with my cell phone and our $600 GPS unit, I told her mother that she needed to get down. After fetching the girl, the mother said they should get going. Hallelujah! But first, she wanted her son to use the bathroom since they'd be driving in the car for 15 minutes (is that a super long time for kids?). I directed her to our guest bathroom where she shooed the boy in. The boy left the door wide open while he went and came out a while later with no 'flush' sound following. He ran back into the living room and started playing with one of our flashlights. His mom told him to put it back because they were leaving. The boy ignored her. She told him to put it back again. He ignored her. She started counting, "One...two...you don't want me to get to three..." The boy, unfazed, continued to play. The mom finally just snatched it from him and herded him toward the door. After shutting (and locking!) the door behind them, I looked back toward the guest bathroom, wondering what I'd find. The boy had put the toilet seat back down, so I slowly lifted it up. Yep, nice yellow water with matching pee all over the seat. He never washed his hands either.

So my question is this: What is the proper etiquette for handling ill-behaved children in your home whose parents can't control them or don't seem to care? This isn't nearly as bad as some other experiences I've had, but I'm starting to see a rather disturbing trend. I know some people will say, "Just wait and see how you do when you have kids!" But I would hope I'd have the courtesy to wipe up the pee my child splattered all over someone else's bathroom.

I know we all have stories like this; post them if you'd like. I'm also thinking of buying the book shown in the above image by Adrianne Frost. I've thought about buying it before, but now it's a must-have. That's all for now...I've got pee to clean up.

Why can't an ivy league school make online registration work?

2007-01-17T10:44:00.000-05:00

I just need to release a bit of frustration- it's really lame that Notre Dame has so much trouble with their online registration. Actually, they have a lot of trouble with anything online. But their online registration is especially messed up. I was supposed to be able to register for classes back in November, but you can't register for a class unless you have special permission by either the instructor or the department. Most professors tell you to wait until the first week of classes to register so it can be handled all at once. So, you show up for the first class, put your name on a sheet of paper, the teacher takes that list and gives it to another professor in charge of manually entering in each student into the computer system, then the student goes and registers online. I honestly don't know why they won't let you take any graduate courses without special permission (graduate students also can't take undergraduate courses without special permission). The whole process is unnecessarily convoluted. By the second week of classes I should be registered for my classes.

My other complaint is why do I have to have a professor signed add/drop card to return a textbook I bought from the ND bookstore. It makes no sense! I have the receipt! Another gripe is the enrollment issue. You have to enroll every semester; this is different from registering. Enrollment is a signed document telling ND that yes, you will be attending the university that semester. Even if you somehow managed to register for classes, you still have to fill it out. Otherwise, you are thought to be a dropout and are booted from the university and have to reapply to get back in. Notre Dame's system is in dire need of a makeover. Who knows, maybe it's 'tradition' that makes them keep their crazy system.

Our New Purchase

2007-01-13T07:53:00.000-05:00

After a year of research, looking, more research, and more looking we finally got up the determination to follow through with buying a new car. We bought a 2006 Toyota Camry.

Both Becky and I feel like we got a good deal on the vehicle and plan on having if for a long time. Sure its nothing fancy but it will be reliable and has a very smooth ride. Plus it will be nice to have two cars again so Becky does not have to ride her bike everywhere. The car (yet to be named) seems happy to join the Miller family and we look forward to driving it for now on. btw, the head lights are not stickers. :-)

Car Woes

2007-01-09T17:41:00.000-05:00

We've had a bit of car trouble for the past week. Of course, the car started having trouble while I was driving it. Part of the clutch went out while I was running errands, and I got stranded in a shopping center parking lot. Nobody was around to give me a ride and Kevin wasn't answering his phone, so I hoofed it the 2.5 miles home. Walking usually isn't such a big deal, but I had injured my foot a couple days before and with all the walking it swelled and started to really hurt. Luckily a friend was able to pick up Kevin from work and drive us to our stranded car. It turns out the car repairs weren't major and the car was easily fixed once the parts came in. We ended up renting a car for a few days while the car was in the shop. All in all, we were very lucky but were forced to acknowledge our car's waning health. We have now started looking for a new car-something more practical than a two-door sports car.

Home Owners

2007-01-07T12:53:00.000-05:00

In helping with Kevin's New Year Resolution, I thought I could help catch the blog up. We bought a house in South Bend and are really enjoying being home owners. The yard needs a lot of work, but the house itself is in great shape. We love being able to turn up the music and watch movies late at night without worrying about the neighbors upstairs. It's a cozy three bedroom house which gives us plenty of room for guests!

Notre Dame is going well--it has been a bit of an adjustment, but I'm liking it. The GLOBES program is progressing but still has a long ways to go. I'm currently rotating through Dr. Ferdig's lab which studies drug-resistance in malaria. I love it there. My next rotation will be through Dr. McDowell's lab studying leishmania. I have a feeling that the next semester is going to keep me really busy. I officially graduated with my master's from BYU this December. Doesn't feel like much of an accomplishment since I'm still in school.

We got season tickets to the Fightin' Irish home games. It was a totally new way to experience college football for us. We're still learning all the traditions and are planning to get tickets again next season. Hopefully the football team will live up to expectations next Fall.

Kevin is working as a computer technician at an accounting firm downtown. He's really good at it and is doing well there. He has to work weekends but we're making the necessary adjustments. We'll see how it goes with tax season ahead.

Thanksgiving was spent here in South Bend with friends. We bought a fresh organic turkey from the local farmer's market and cooked it ourselves. I was nervous about messing up the turkey and ruining Thanksgiving, but everything turned out delicious. It was a great Thanksgiving, and we were glad to spend it with friends.

We flew back to Utah for Christmas and bounced between families and different activities. It was hectic but a lot of fun. We really enjoyed seeing everybody again although it didn't feel like we had ever left. We ate out a lot. Next time we'll come up with another way to socialize.

Hope everyone is doing well! Happy New Year!

New Year, New Resolutions

2007-01-06T07:20:00.000-05:00

First I'd like to apologize to everyone for being such a slacker and not keeping this updated. It is one of my goals to make posts more then I have the last 5 months. Look for post to come with updates about where we are now and what we have been doing.

I just wanted to do a quick post to congratulate Todd and Jenny Miller on their new baby boy, Ian. Way to make the front pages and top news of Seattle. Quite the story. Talk about life in the fast lane. You must click the link to read the story and watch the video.

Trek to South Bend

2006-09-07T12:33:00.000-04:00

So we actually left Utah for a different reason then a vacation. To make the whole thing a little easier on our wallet we decided rent a larger truck and share it with David Janetski, another BYU student who was going to Notre Dame. (We rented from Penske and were very pleased with the service they provided) We took a day to pack our stuff in and then passed it off to him so he could do the same. We were able to get everything to fit in the truck besides their couch. We left on Saturday the 12th of August and drove our massive truck for 3 days across the country and arrived in South Bend late Monday Afternoon.

During our travel east we did hit a major storm that forced us to pull of the road and wait it out. The rain/hail was so heavy we couldn't see a thing and my car was hydroplaning to where we couldn't keep up with the heavier moving tuck Dave was driving at the time. I guess we could have guessed how bad the storm was by how many truckers were pulled off the side of the road and taking cover under overpasses. Other then the storm we had a problem free move. Even our fish made the trip. We lost less then 10 fish. (10 of the 300 :-P) It was just too bad our truck only got 6 mpg with gas prices well into the $3 range.

When we arrived the South Bend Ward had gotten about 7 guys together to help us unload the truck. They were life savers and I don't think we could have done it without them. We had the truck unpacked at both places within a couple hours. The other challenge we had was getting all of our stuff to fit in our apartment. The place was smaller then we expected it to be but at least we are on the ground floor. After a lot of shifting and stacking things in corners we were able to get everything to fit. We didn't want to unpack everything because we are hoping to get a home of our own soon and didn't want to have to re-pack everything again. The apartment is considered University housing but is about a mile away from campus. The building we are in has 8 apartments in it.

South Bend has been better then expected. It is a beautiful area and the people have been very nice. It has been very weird to have such a large sky and horizon here. The mountains will surely be missed. We have been very happy with the weather so far as well. (lets see if I still say that 4 months from now)

A Detour to Oregon

2006-08-18T14:18:00.000-04:00

Here we are getting ready to move, and we decide to take a trip to the Oregon coast. My mother wanted to have a Miller family reunion so she rented a nice little beach house, and we flew to Oregon and spent 3 days on the coast. We had fun driving up and down the coast taking pictures and going on hikes. It was beautiful weather for the coast, but it was very windy most of the time. We had a fire on the beach and discovered wind, melted marshmallow and hair don't mix very well (or wind causes marshmallows and hair to mix too well).

It was a fun trip and was nice to head west before we went east.

I'm Da Bomb! :-)

2006-07-30T14:04:00.000-04:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to KEVIN!!
It was my B-day and Becky made me an awesome cake. I'm getting too old! I also received a GPS navigator from the Shiozawa's and Becky. It will be very useful for our move and getting around when we are in Indiana.

God Luck at Noter!

2006-07-19T20:09:00.000-04:00

Hi Folks! I just thought I'd catch you up with what's been going on in our exciting lives. My mother threw us a great going away barbecue on Saturday (July 15th). It was an eventful time getting ready for it. When my sister picked up the cake from the bakery it read: "God luck at Noter Becky and Kevn!" Hmm...must be an omen. Or as my dad said, it's extra incentive to stay in school. In any case, the cake got fixed and the party was a blast. Over 70 people attended! Thanks to all who came and who helped out! It was a lot of fun seeing everybody! I didn't realize we were so popular! We'll miss everyone but know we'll have visitors (we're planning on getting Notre Dame football tickets). Thanks again for all the love and support! We'll miss you all!

Happy 4th of July!

2006-07-04T14:37:00.000-04:00

Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone has a great holiday and enjoys the fireworks. Becky and I will be having a family BBQ and then will be headed to Salt Lake to watch the Real soccer game and the fireworks afterwards. I'll post some pictures if any of them turn out.

PHC and an Arts Festival- How liberal can we get?

2006-07-02T22:32:00.000-04:00

Hi all! It's been a while since I've written something, so I thought I'd write about our last weekend fun. A Praire Home Companion with Garrison Keillor came to Salt Lake City and my parents, being huge fans, got us tickets to go. Unfortunately, my dad had to go out of town, but Kevin's mom stepped in and was as much fun to watch as the show. It was great getting to see how a live radio show is put together and to watch the voice actors, especially the sound effects guy. The guest singer was Linda Ronstadt, a particular favorite for Kevin's mom. It was a fun show with some particularly good regional jokes. After the show, we went to the Utah Arts Festival and walked around for a few hours. There were lots of great booths and things to see. While there we ran into Jerin, Wami and little Taisei (you ought to check out their blog too). It's always fun to see them. So, great stuff and good times.

Not much else has been going on with us. I just finished a rough draft of my thesis, which is a huge burden off my shoulders. I'm hoping to defend in a couple of weeks, but it depends on when my committee is available. We saw the new Superman movie this weekend...not a big fan. Batman's better. Things are going well. I finally got an apartment lined up for us in South Bend, so we won't be sleeping on the streets. We also have a moving truck set up. I'm excited to move but don't feel prepared enough to be comfortable. All in good time in guess. Anyways, happy fourth!

A Fishy Update

2006-06-28T00:52:00.000-04:00

Well, it has been a little while since we have posted anything so I thought I would give a little summary on what has been going on the past month.

We bought a new fish tank for our anniversary because we felt our old one was becoming overcrowded. We ended up upgrading from a 10 gallon tank to a 30 gallon tank. The new tank looked great. We even bought some fake plants to beautify the environment. (for the fish of course) However, our fish came down with a disease called Ichthyophthirius or Ich and we had to treat the tank with a chemical that is hard on the fish. In the end we lost both our clown loaches and a few guppies.

The tank is fine now and we just have billions of guppies that are now out growing the new tank. We were sad to lose our loaches but it will make it easier for us to deal with the fish when we move.

In other news, we now have a place to stay when we get to South Bend. We had been on the waiting list for student housing and we were able to get the last available apartment. We plan on staying in the apartment for a few months while we look for a house and get situated to life in Indiana.

Well, I think that will do it for now. Everything is going well for us. Becky is just stressing to get her masters degree finished up and I'm stressing for her as well. (The whole moving thing is a little stressful too :-) ) The time is flying by way to fast. It is hard to believe it is almost July. We will keep you posted as we have more exciting events in our lives. I'll leave you with a picture we took while we were in Hawaii.

Fourth Anniversary

2006-05-31T23:59:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to post a quick note about our fourth anniversary. I can't believe it has already been four years--four great years with Kevin! I'm so lucky to be married to such a great guy! Happy Anniversary!

Hawaii Travel Log

2006-05-26T12:02:00.000-04:00

Hawaii was a blast! It was a bad time to leave since I should be finishing up my thesis, but it was the fun thing to do. I thought I'd give you a bit of a travel log with some cool pics taken by Kevin.

O'ahu

We went to the Bishop Museum and got to experience a volcano up close!

We enjoyed a day at the beach at beautiful Hanauma Bay, complete with tropical fish, sea turtles, and (of course) sunburns. Kevin and I snorkeled for the first time; I'm not a good swimmer so I made Kevin pull me around the bay on a boogie board. What a good guy!

We spent Mother's Day with Jason and Michelle's wonderful family (and had great food!) and did a little sight seeing. We met up with Robin at the Laie temple.

Kevin and I spent a day at Pearl Harbor and got a sobering review of history. We also explored the great battleship Missouri. Then it was off to the Big Island!

The Big Island

We stayed in Kona and did some local sight seeing. We drove down the coast and visited some great beaches and historical sights. A real gem was the Pu'uhonua o Honaunau, the place of refuge where defeated warriors or those who broke the kapu could seek sanctuary. We also went to the southernmost point in the United States. Thrilling! We had a great view of the ocean and sunsets from our hotel.

Driving to Hilo, we did more sight seeing and some hiking. The Pololu Beach is the most beautiful beach we'd ever seen. We also stopped at Akaka Falls, which drops an amazing 420 feet.

In Hilo, we stopped at Rainbow Falls and the Boiling Pots. Then it was on to Volcano National Park for some great hikes through desolate landscapes and lush rainforests. From there it was back to O'ahu.
O'ahu

Back on O'ahu, we got a quick tour of the Dole Plantation and North Shore. We also went to the Polynesian Culture Center where Kevin was chosen at the Tonga Village to play the drums. He rocked! I have video of it, but I'm not sure how to post it...yet. We lucked out that night at the PCC; it was also the final round of the World Fire Knife Championship. The three finalists performed during the night show intermission and the winner was announced after. Incredible! As our final sight seeing act, we visited the Valley of the Temples. Then back home!

Thank you to all our friends for their help and hospitality! We had a great trip and tons of fun! Check back at Kevin's earlier slideshow. He'll post more pictures of Hawaii. Mahalo and Aloha!!

Hawaiian Escape

2006-05-03T17:14:00.000-04:00

Sorry it's been so long since we've written. Kevin and I just got back from a 10 day vacation to Hawaii. We'll be posting pics, I'm sure (Kevin took over 600!). So check back later. It was a great trip with lots of good food, good beaches, good hiking, and lots of sun! Special mahalo to Jason and Michelle and Robin for letting us stay with them! You're the best! We'll write more soon!

I'm Published!

2006-04-25T16:37:00.000-04:00

Good news! Pull out your April 2006 copy of Molecular Ecology vol. 15 (I know you have it laying around somewhere) and flip over to page 985. Thanks to Dr. Jack Sites at BYU, I was able to work on a manuscript on the population structure of the giant Amazon river turtle that was published in Molecular Ecology this month. I helped with some of the mitochondrial DNA population genetic analyses. It's only one publication, but it's my first, and I'm really excited about it. Plus, the research helps conservation efforts for the endangered turtles. Below is a picture of one of the cute lil' guys (lil' is relative, since these turtles can get up to 2 1/2 feet long).

The Miller's are Moving!

2006-04-19T16:22:00.000-04:00

Yes, the rumors are true. After enjoying many wonderful years in Happy Valley, we are moving to South Bend, Indiana. I'm finally graduating from Brigham Young University in August, and I've accepted a doctoral position at the University of Notre Dame. What can I say. I love small, private, religious universities! We're sad to leave our families and friends, but we'll be back in five years...maybe as Catholics! Until then, please, visit us in South Bend- we'll take you to the Studebaker Museum.

A Smile for Tax Day

2006-04-17T23:33:00.000-04:00

It's tax day so I thought everyone would like a little laugh.

My Slideshow

2006-04-10T19:05:00.001-04:00

Here are some random pictures I have taken. I hope you enjoy them.

The Miller blog begins!

2006-04-07T03:00:00.000-04:00

Hi,

It just seems like everyone is doing this so I thought I might give it a try. I don't know how often it will be updated but feel free to check back every year or so and see what has happened in our world.

I may even have a website soon (kevinrmiller.com) but that is taking a little longer then first expected. I'll be sure to post when it is up and going. (summer 2007) :-)

I guess I'll throw in a pic just for fun to start it off.