Backwoods Jam

PJ and I broke away from the grind in mid October to go camping in the Cherokee National Forest for a night. It was a great opportunity for us both to meditate on being new fathers while playing guitar and scaring off wildlife by singing out of key.

We printed off a bunch of Dillon, Petty, and Counting Crows and I brought along my library of Dead tabs. It was a heck of a good time that didn't last nearly long enough.

Hallow's Eve Past

Ahhh, Halloween, my personal favorite of the not-so-serious holidays! I love that there is a dedicated day in the fall where it is perfectly acceptable to dress up in a wacky costume and otherwise go about your usual business. We're planning to spend this upcoming Halloween weekend with our friends Katie and William in Athens, GA, which is always a hoot! In preparation for the event, I was going through past Halloween photos, and thought some of them were worth sharing.

Halloween 2003
Circus Freaks: The Mime & the Human Pretzel

Halloween 2004: Dolly Parton & Willy Nelson

Halloween 2005: And They Came from Outer Space!

My Spock ears were adorable but unfortunately not very comfortable. Brad's ENTIRE costume was made from duck tape, really, it was quite the engineering feat.

Halloween 2006: Portrayal of Weird Al's "White and Nerdy,"
a spoof of Chamillionaire and Krayzie Bon's "Ridin"

If you are wondering what Brad is holding, it's Pi to one thousand places. Riiiight.

The rear view, hahaha

Halloween 2007: Gone Country

You can see I took the more traditional Nashville back-up singer wannabe route, while Brad went for the more specific (but I must say well done) red neck variety.

So because of the Beijing Olympics and the upcoming presidential elections, the theme for this year's Halloween extravaganza is The Thrill of Victory / The Agony of Defeat. I plan to post lots of pictures from the festivities. I've heard rumors that several college friends are planning to make the trip, so it should be a great time!

Groundbreaking for the Ethanol Biorefinery

So for the past year in my position with the Office of Bioenergy Programs at UT, we've been working towards constructing and operating a cellulosic ethanol biorefinery in Vonore, TN. Whereas most ethanol currently comes from corn, our plant will be producing ethanol from switchgrass, corn cobs and other non-food plant material. With the recent increases in food prices, UT's goal is to move toward a renewable and sustainable form of domestic transportation fuel that won't negatively impact our food supply.

The plan has been moving along great, and last week we held the official goundbreaking ceremony for the plant. Due to the large amount of support from the state government ($70 million over 5 years), the governor and many state and federal legislatures were on hand for the event, which made it pretty exciting!

We estimated attendance at around 300

All the VIPs, including Gov. Bredesen, Sen. Bob Corker, Congressmen Zach Wamp and John Duncan, UT President John Peterson and others



Me & Phil

Me & Bob...I thought he'd be taller

I loved the bluegrass band!

So as some may or may not know, my position at UT was 100% grant funded, and the funds have run out. So yesterday was my official last day of work. I was initially bummed, but then realized that with the baby coming in April, this is the perfect opportunity to take some time to be at home and get everything ready. I'm just glad that I got to see the Biofuels Initiative project through to the groundbreaking, since I spent over a year working on it.

12 Week Ultrasound

The ultrasound today allowed us to see the flailing arms and legs of a healthy baby and we are overjoyed. As far as they could tell, everything is perfectly normal! This video turned out much better than the previous one. The little thing is about 2 inches long and has a heart rate of 172. Eight more weeks and we find out the gender from the next ultrasound. That will be a joyous day!

Cute Pic of the Day

So I'm more than willing to admit that I may be a little emotional these days, but when Brad sent me this picture today, I almost started to cry. I mean, really, can something this cute be legal?!
After cruising my hard drive, I also found these adorable gems worth sharing.

Hope you enjoy the cuteness overload!