Consistently Inconsistent

Well, this is awkward... I guess this whole "posting every two weeks" thing just isn't happening. Instead of starting off every post with an apology for a lack of consistent posting, I'm just gonna take this moment to officially announce that our posts will occur on an irregular basis. But really, we're doing you a favor. Life is incalculably more fun when you don't know when to expect your friend/relative's next blog post.

So what's happened since January 4th? Well, for one thing, Hannah and I have begun our busiest semesters to-date! This semester Hannah added to her already overloaded plate of extracurricular activities a job doing research in a lab that studies the exercise habits of pregnant women, if I'm not mistaken. So far it's been a great experience for her, and certainly a great step on her path toward PT school. Meanwhile, I've scooped a couple extra helpings of engineering coursework onto my plate, and it's now dripping with delectables like thermofluids, mechanical design, and control systems. Certainly a well balanced engineering diet!

Shortly after school began, my 20th birthday rolled around. It's pretty nice having my birthday at the start of every semester, to keep my spirits up even as my schedule becomes busy again with classes and clubs and work. To celebrate, my family and I (and Hannah, of course) went to Top Golf in Gilbert. We had a great time, and I felt like I improved considerably thanks to the tips of my grandpa!

Hannah and I celebrated my birthday just last Friday. Yes, that's February 6th, and yes, that's 2.5 weeks after my birthday, but we didn't have many opportunities to celebrate because of our busy schedules! (Busy with skiing, that is, but I'll get to that later.) We went to Pane Bianco in Downtown Phoenix to pick up a couple sandwiches, then drove out to Las Sendas for a sunset hike and dinner on Spook Hill. Pretty creative/romantic, right? I have the best girlfriend!

Speaking of celebrations, how about Super Bowl XLIX? I suppose that's a pretty controversial thing to say, actually, depending on which team you were rooting for. But regardless of your allegiance, you have to admit that was a pretty amazing game. Hannah and I visited Super Bowl Central Downtown on Friday; on Saturday we went to a viewing party in the Cronkite Building on the Downtown campus, where they broadcast the game on a huge screen compiled of four smaller-but-still-pretty-big screens. There were probably over a hundred students there, and just about everybody seemed to be leaning hard toward one team or the other, so it was a fantastic atmosphere. The neatest thing, though, was that they brought in a different catered selection of food each quarter: first Corner Bakery, then Papa John's, then Chipotle, and finally desserts from Corner Bakery. So great food, great company, and GREAT game. Especially if you were pulling for the Patriots. Which Hannah and I were.

It's not that I like the Patriots. It's that I really dislike the Seahawks. And for Hannah, it's that I really dislike the Seahawks.

So, about the skiing. This winter I've been skiing three times! Considering I hadn't been skiing for two years previous to this, I'd say that's pretty good. The first trip you've likely already read about - that was our Warren family trip to Beaver Creek in Colorado. The second was just me, Hannah, and her parents; we went up to Sunrise in late January and enjoyed a relaxing weekend at their cabin.

The third (and likely final) trip of the season came just last weekend, on a turnaround trip up to Sunrise with about 60 other ASU Barrett students. Last November we paid $40/person to register for this trip, which included charter bus transportation, snacks, a lift ticket, equipment rental, and a half-day lesson. Oh and a really sweet Barrett beanie. Hannah and I brought our own gear, and we didn't need a lesson, but since a lift ticket alone is usually over $50, this was still a screaming deal.

Our day began at 3:30 am, when the buses departed from Downtown campus. We pretty much just napped on the way up, which was good because we skied from 9 am to almost 4 pm, with the only breaks coming from the lift rides and lunch! Hannah and I spent most of the day with our friend Patty, who snowboards (she also came on the Havasupai hike with us, if you remember that). I was easily the least experienced of us three, but they were patient with me as I made my long, slow S-curves down the steeper parts of the slopes. We also spent much of the day with Hannah's brother Brian and some of his friends, who were staying in the family cabin in Pinetop that weekend. Brian eventually convinced me to try my very first blue (the medium level of difficulty). It was slow going, and I ended up falling in one of the steeper sections, but ultimately I did alright, and it felt like great progress! Certainly a good way to end the ski season.

I guess the only other points of interest are that Hannah and I are currently going through the process to become members of Red Mountain Community Church! It's not an especially intensive process, but we had our first class last weekend, and it seems like membership will really help us grow spiritually and become a stronger part of the community at RMCC. So we're looking forward to the rest of it.

I'm ashamed to say that we have no developments in our Europe plans... Due to the business of the semester, we haven't gotten around to purchasing our Eurail passes like we hoped we would have by now. But with any luck, we'll have that next step complete by the time Hannah writes our next post. Which, as I expressed in the opening of this post, could really be any length of time! Haha.

Well, that's all for now! Enjoy your next two weeks. Or months. Whatever it ends up being.