Chicago for NTI

I went to the National Critical Care Nursing Conference the beginning of May and really enjoyed the classes and things I learned. We also got to enjoy some other things while out in Chicago after all the classes were done for the day. Here is a little bit of what we did.



This is Sue. She is the largest whole T-Rex found in the United States. A mold of her skeleton is the dinosaur in the museum in the movie "A Night at The Museum."



This is the Chicago Theater. I am sure you have seen this sign before. Very cool to see this theater in the middle of such an enormous city.



We walked out on Navy Pier one night expecting it to be filled with people and a fun night life. There was no one there. But this is a cool view looking back at the city from the pier.



We went to the White Sox vs. Twins game while we were in town. Sadly the Cubs were away. But we bought some tickets from a scalper on the way into the game. I walked away from him at first saying no, we want cheap seats. He called us back when we had walked about 30 ft and sold us these tickets, 4 rows off the first base line for 20 bucks a piece. Great seats for what turned out to be a great game.



This is the team celebrating with the Twins pitcher, Liriano, who just threw a no hitter. Pretty cool to be at a game that the pitcher throws a no hitter. It does not happen often so it was very memorable.



A look at the score board. You can see the fat 0 under the hits for the White Sox. The other cool part is that the only score for the Sox was Liriano's designated hitter hitting a home run. Basically the Pitcher and his hitter won this game.



Beeler, Eric, and I watching the game.



Me in front of the NBC building. I felt like I was on 30 Rock. Very cool building.



We went to Giordano's Pizza which was just around the corner from our hotel. It was delicious. I had never had a true Chicago style deep dish pizza. As you can see it has a deeper crust than any pizza you can get anywhere else. Absolutely the best pizza I have ever had in my life.



One afternoon Eric and I walked to the Sears Tower because we wanted to see it up close. We did not go up to the observation deck because it costs 17 bucks to do it. You can see the observation decks way up near the top of the building. There were still 20 or so floors after the decks. Oh by the way. This building has changed names to Willis Tower.

Adventures with Janie #2 Vineyard Lake Trail

Janie and I went on an adventure to a new place for both her and I, Vineyard Utah. There is a trail that runs along Utah Lake so Janie and I went on a walk there and then took a trip down to the edge of the water. She likes exploring things and picking up interesting finds on our trips.
Janie offering me some of her granola bar. I finished mine quickly so she was being sweet and offering some of hers to me. We need our energy for these trips.

Janie always picks out a rock on our trips. These were really quality asphalt rocks. She carried around handfuls for about 20 minutes. Then dropped them all for a granola bar.


Janie exploring the edge of the lake. I love her little body being all big and walking around.

Adventures With Janie #1

Janie and I have started adventures together. It is really easy to get her to go out. I just have to ask if she wants to go on an adventure and she runs and gets her shoes and socks on, even if she is only wearing a diaper. Our first adventure was around the Provo Airport on a dirt road that is not well kept. These are some of the stops we made along the way.
This is an old abandoned boat ramp and barge. Basically the closest we could get to the water.

A better picture of the barge and how cute Janie is. She loves here gloves and hat. So do I.

Some farm equipment we found along the way.

Down by the water Janie had to put her stick in. I think she might be ready to go fly-fishing with me when the run off is done.

A view of the mountains from the trail we were on. This was the first kind of nice day and we got a good view of the mountains.


Janie's first 4 wheeling/mudding experience. The road is really rutted out this time of year and the wholes are filled with mud. I like how she has to grab her hat to keep it from flying off. She loved how the road threw here back and forth.

The road usually continues right through here but the ice from Utah lake blows up and piles up over the road so this is a dead end. That was okay because we got to turn around and drive through the same fun road the came in on.

Kind of looks like Iceland. These mounds were 10 feet high.

The mud. It wasn't a ton but enough to spray the sides of the car. Janie liked to see the water shoot up by here window. Overall it was a great little adventure. We got to see ducks, swans, minnows, and bugs. And don't forget the rocks! Keep your eyes out for the next adventures of Janie and Daddy.

Dewalt 12 volt Drill and Impact Driver

I have been looking at this drill set since Christmas. I read reviews and messed with them at Home Depot many times. Well, I finally bought them and I could not be more pleased. I will admit that I was a little nervous about the 12 volts not being enough power but these little drills out-power my Ryobi 18 volt drill.

Tamara wanted a sewing table for Christmas so this was my first project with the new drills. I put a drill bit in the impact driver and screw driver on the drill. The drills are so tiny that switching back and forth was a breeze. The lithium ion batteries are great. I have had this set for about a month and have done multiple projects and still have not needed to charge the batteries.
The table has fold out legs that more than triple the table top. Tamara can fit her serger and sewing machine on the bottom shelf and thread and all the other sewing stuff on the top shelf. It is on four casters so she can sew while watching a show.
Another one of the projects I did. I bought some guitar wall hangers at Bert Murdock Music and put my guitars on the wall. This cleared up a lot of floor space in the room and looks pretty good. Anyway, I put the hangers onto studs but my drill bit didn't reach the stud so I decided to test out the impact driver and drove 3 inch screws into the studs with no pre-drilling. The little 12V impact driver drove the screws in smoothly with no slowing. It was loud but all impact drivers are loud when they start driving.

Rod and Case Finished

Apologies, It took me way to long to get this picture of the ferrule up. Sorry it is not that close but my camera is getting old. This was as close as my point and shoot would focus.

This is the butt section along with both tips over the beautiful soft case Tamara sewed for me and the blue spruce hex case Ben made for me.
This is the hex case that Ben made for me. He is an amazing craftsmen. It is blue spruce. I put 3 clear coats on it and now this rod and case are complete.

Bamboo Rod with Flexcoat Wraps

This is my first wrap. I am wrapping on the stripping guide. He I am using Ben's ultra sophisticated thread tensioner, a bobbin for tying flies stuck trough and eyelet. It worked perfectly.
A little close up of the stripping guide and the wrap. You can see I have put on a jade agate stripping guide. I like the green on green look.
This is one of my snake guides before gluing. I tipped it with olive but when I applied epoxy they olive went transparent and you could not tell so I ended up cutting all of the tipping off of my tip section snake guide wraps. Unless you knew it you would not be able to tell.
The stripping guide now that it is all glued up nice. I used flex coat lite for the wraps and it turned out beautiful. This rod is by no means traditional but the guides will stay on forever.
And there it is. The completed bamboo fly rod. Being taught how to make this was my Christmas present from my brother Ben. He is one of the most amazing craftsmen I have ever met and I constantly am amazed at the beautiful works of art he creates. This rod is spectacular Ben so thanks for the hours and hours of lessons. Now lets go fish this bad boy! I will soon be posting a picture of the ferrule and how I wrapped it but my camera is not working right now. Keep your eyes peeled for a quick post.