Truss hunting

Last winter, Aaron and I were driving west on I-70 between Kansas City and Lawrence, and off to the north, we saw a fair-sized steel truss way off barely visible through bare trees and farm fields. We said at the time that it would be fun to track it down and look at it. I'm teaching Structural Analysis this semester, and I've been trying to assign "ill-defined", practical, structural engineering problems. So, it seemed like a good opportunity to track this bridge down and take a bunch of photos. Since we'd actually seen it from a distance at one point, it was pretty easy to track down with Google maps (satellite view is awesome for stuff like this).

We drove out to Leavenworth County, KS this afternoon, about 20 minutes from home, and found this awesome pin-connected, dicrepit steel Pratt truss over Stranger Creek. Actually, it's a really cool bridge - I couldn't have found one better to assign for class if I'd tried. I love the eyebars and pin connections everywhere. It's pretty unusual to find a bridge with the eyebar bottom chord like this one. OK, honestly, I have no idea if it's unusual or not, but I'm sure that I haven't had the opportunity to crawl around one before, so therefore, it was pretty neat to me. :-) The bridge is actually pretty long for how light it seems (approx. 140').

We were out there for about an hour taking photos and enjoying the great weather, and a total of two vehicles drove over the bridge. That wasn't too surprising I guess, the route to get to this bridge consisted of gravel roads that seemed like they should have been located in some 3rd world country... I'm pretty sure the bridge sees traffic only from farmers... and geeks.

Summer went fast. Classes started back up last Thursday, and I taught both of my classes on Friday, and again today. There's so much energy on campus in the fall semester, and I really enjoy that. Plus, I'm teaching Structural Analysis, a 3rd/4th year undergrad course that I love to teach, and a graduate class on the design of steel buildings for the first time, and I'm happy about it, too.

Ceci started at her new daycare at Marisa's a week ago, and she is doing great! What a smooth transition - I was worried that it wasn't going to be easy for Ceci, but it seems like it has gone far better than I could have even hoped for. Aaron and I have felt so happy to have found a wonderful, caring, proactive home for Ceci during the daytime (what a huge, huge, huge deal to us), especially after a really long and at times, disheartening, search over the past couple of months. I am 100% convinced that Ceci lives like a princess while at Marisa's, and we are so happy that there's a little boy there about the same age as her. She loves to be around other babies! The list of things she does while she's there just makes us smile - wagon rides and building blocks and stories! She also eats like a princess (seriously, I want to eat breakfast at Marisa's, too! - strawberries, blueberries, pancakes, bananas, waffles - this seriously puts my cream of wheat to complete shame.) Oh, to be a baby again. :-) Aaron and I feel very lucky to have found Marisa and her family.

Christine, Daniel, and family watched Cecilia from January, 2009 til a little over a week ago, and it was a wonderful experience. Aside from spectacular childcare, they are wonderful people, and Aaron and I feel lucky that our lives intersected with theirs. I am so, so, so happy for them that their travels to their little Amelie are just right around the corner. I can't wait to meet her myself, and I know that Ceci is going to love to have a friend - she and Amelie are only about a month apart!!! :-) I can't wait to see the look on Ceci's face when she sees Christine, Daniel, Sorin, Liam, Prasad, and Sky next, too!!! Ceci smiled constantly when she was around Sky - he brings out such a playful spirit in her. Sky and Prasad made the most adorable cards for her, and Aaron and I love to look through them; they make me smile no matter how many times I look at them. Somehow dinosaur stickers manage to scream affection on these cards - something I never would have guessed - but they totally do!!! In any case, I'm looking forward to our next visit with the Peebles family when they are settled in with Amelie. :-)

Christine and Daniel - wishing you a wonderful trip to Addis and home again, with Amelie.

ONE YEAR OLD!

Ceci turned one year old on Monday! Neither Aaron nor I can really wrap our mind around the fact that Ceci has been brightening our lives for 12 months already. Everyone had told us how quickly these months would fly by, and they really, really have. She doesn't really look like a baby any more, and in a lot of respects, she doesn't act like one either! She's pulling up on furniture, walking around the coffee table (while hanging on, of course), and even saying "bottle" (pronounced: bah-ole) and "Milo" (pronounced: mie-oe) and "da-da". It burns me up mildly that she said the cat's name before "ma-ma," but I think she's saving the best for last - he he! :-)

Nora came out to visit for the birthday weekend, and we had a great time with her in town! Cecilia is now going through Grandma withdrawal. The cupcakes have slowed considerably, and the only present that she hasn't played with yet is a banana-flavored lollipop. :-)

My new favorite photo

Smile!