Three Cheers for Max

Congratulations to Max, who finished his Ph.D. on May 8.  I was invited to his defense talk and was thoroughly impressed with the presentation itself, as well as his ability to articulate his work to me (the layperson) and to the specialists simultaneously.

What’s next?  A post doc at the U of M for Max, more urban design at CGA for me.  Yahoo!  We’re staying in Minneapolis.  We can look forward to many years of cooking, eating, and drinking in our new kitchen, battling squirrels in the garden, skiing and hiking in our parks, and enjoying the company of our dear friends and neighbors in all places.

Kitchen Project Updates

Cindy and I have been working hard in our kitchen. We decided it was time to rip out the old vinyl floors and those lovely bottom-end, late 80s era cabinets. I’m not going to reveal the final design “vision” yet, as we change our minds a lot. Rest assured that it will be exciting.

We’re a long way from done. But it’s been (mostly) fun so far. We’ve learned a lot about our house’s history, and we’ve gained a bunch of do-it-yourself skills.

I’ve shared photos on Flickr. We’ll post more updates as we make more progress.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maxharp3r/tags/kitchen/

Max

Italy!

We went to Italy!  Max presented at CHI, and I got another two-for-one vacation deal.  And, of course, we haven’t written a thing about it.  Some lucky folks got postcards mailed from Minneapolis a month after we returned.  Maybe we’ll write some stuff later, but for now, click here for photos.

House Projects

We’ve been busy with house projects. They’ve been pretty darn satisfying. So much that we feel the need to post photographic evidence of our progress!

Basement Stairs

The simplest job. We painted the basement stairs late last summer. Funny how a coat of paint can make a big difference.

Before:

After:

Stairway and Baseboard

Starting over the New Year vacation, we decided to refinish our stairs. When we moved in, we immediately tore the carpet off the stairs. Thus, for the past three years, our stairs looked terrible. Here’s some photographic evidence of the transformation.

Before: peeling painted risers, and treads missing stain and lots of paint from previous owners

Sanding: many hours with a dust mask and an electric sander

After Sanding: looks like wood again!

After Prep: risers primed, treads stained

Finished Product: unconventional black risers with new quarter round

Finally, we also borrowed Dad’s nail gun to install quarter round around our baseboards in the living room and dining room.

Max’s Summer in Palo Alto

I recently returned from a very interesting summer at Nokia Research Center, Palo Alto.  If you wish to see more about the project I worked on, visit this blog post.  I didn’t take too many pictures this summer, but they are here:

• Biking in SF Pictures
• Nokia Pictures 

I am very happy to be back in Minneapolis!

Max

Corfu Trip

I invited myself to join Max at his latest conference location (Greece – wouldn’t you?).  Immediately I set out to gain three important bits of knowledge: how to cross the street, how to use the bathroom, and how to ride a bus.  It turns out that finding shade is equally important.  I applied and improved these skills during my solo explorations throughout Corfu while Max focused on listening and presenting at the conference hotel.

Some things I learned during my time alone and our time together: Greece is hot.  Corfu people are refreshingly non-risk averse.  Dining al fresco is both a pleasure and a necessity.  I like smoking bans.  Exploring tunnels in deserted ancient forts alone is terrifying.  I will cross streets with confidence if I’ve had two Mythos beers and two glasses of ouzo.  I don’t like ouzo.  I love traveling alone.  I love traveling with Max.  Flexibility and openness toward locals and independent travelers encourages stimulating chance meetings, conversations, and free drinks.  I must travel more often.

See photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ccharp3r/tags/corfu2007/ 

Crazy Dog Moonwalk

If you want to feel blissfully happy, jump in one of these. For an even more refreshing experience, jump in one that sits in your neighbor’s back yard, is called “Crazy Dog,” and is filled with several other neighbors in their 30s and 40s. We broke the rules and jumped in it with our glasses on. We are daring and brave.

Plants and Trees

I’ve established my posting pattern and you all know it well…so I won’t bother with the “retrospective” or “catching up” titles any longer.  I may be late, but at least I’m consistent.

We had two yard projects in early summer.  One was to build and install additional raised beds in our garden, and the other was to plant our river birch from the City of Mpls and Tree Trust.  Abbie helped us build the beds, and even has one of her own in our yard – community garden style.  The most interesting bit about the tree is how we transported it home.  It involved a total recline of the passenger seat, with me in it, and creative knotting of the tree to the side mirror and windshield wiper.

See photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ccharp3r/tags/garden2007/ and here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ccharp3r/tags/tree2007/

Catching Up: DuNord Trip

It’s April (but it’s almost May). And this is a post about February. And it’s out of order. You understand how burdensome this is for me…but embracing my tendencies and then deliciously abandoning them for posting’s sake is part of the reason I’ve been posting at all.

Well, DuNord was a blast. Throughout the weekend, the nine of us went XC skiing, walking, and hiking; we cooked and we ate, we charaded and we puzzled. Our cabin vernacular included creepy Jolly Green Giant references as well as Scientologist warnings. The whole weekend was a highlight, but my favorite moment involved Max imitating the Titanic during charades. Max would disagree. His highlight vote would be cast for his and Pete’s homemade cinnamon rolls.

You can see photos of the cinnamon roll process (but sorry, not the Titanic imitation) here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ccharp3r/tags/dunord2007/

Catching Up: Savannah Trip

In mid-March, we fled Minneapolis for Savannah and Charleston. It was a restorative vacation full of eating, walking, sipping, swinging, rocking, looking, seeing, and exploring. I have decided that in my next life I will dwell on a front porch.

The urban form in both places was unique, but Savannah’s culture and physical environment were more comfortable and pleasing overall. I’m now a die-hard fan of town-square-as-organizing-mechanism approach.

Check out our photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ccharp3r/tags/savannah2007/. They are heavy with the urban studio curse: demand for additional resource library images. Maybe I should bill my vacation time to the office.

Favorite things (all involve porches, patios, or some other form of outdoor space):

• fried green tomato benedict with grits at Poogan’s Porch restaurant (we ate on the porch)
• police action views from our inn’s second story porch
• wine and rocking chairs on a porch overlooking the Savannah River
• late night exploration of Charleston, peering in windows and evaluating porches
• pizza and beer on the Mellow Mushroom restaurant sidewalk (kind of like a porch)
• coffee and lunch on the Gallery Espresso sidewalk (also like a porch, just not elevated)
• porch swing on the Tybee Island beach