Ryan and Debi

Travel, Tech, Thoughts…

  • Take what off?

    Toren and Debi were laying on the couch together one evening when I overheard the following conversation: Toren, reaching his hand toward Debi: “Mom, take this off.” Debi: “Take what off?” Toren, wiggling his fingers: “My boogers.” Toren had, in fact, picked his nose and was asking Debi to get the boogers off his fingers.

  • Toren hitting baseballs

    Toren’s pretty athletic, probably more so than either of us.  I’m not claiming he’s destined to be a professional athlete, but some of what he does is impressive.  Here he is hitting a baseball – well, sometimes hitting a baseball:

  • Toren counting

    We play the “dark game” (that’s Toren’s name for it; it’s basically hide and seek with flashlights) regularly.  We make Toren count while one of us hides.  He used to have to count to 10, now we’re up to 20.  Here he is counting to 10 in the dark (not great video, but the audio…

  • dessert at TGI Friday

    Debi and Toren got a decadent dessert at TGI Friday on our way back from New Orleans.  Toren was in heave – cookies and ice cream!?!

  • Scotland Adventure – Day 6

    And that’s pretty much it. I slept in a bit this morning, finished packing everything up, and drove the van in to drop it off. Here’s a Google Map of my travels in Scotland (driving, not hiking). I covered a lot miles: View Larger Map After I dropped the van off, I was looking at…

  • Scotland Adventure – Day 5 – Loch Ness and Stirling Castle

    I woke early in the middle of nowhere and headed out.  I wanted to stop by Loch Ness just to say I had.  Turns out, there isn’t a great place to just stop and say you saw Nessie.  Oh, and Loch Ness is freaking enormous (it’s a lake)!  I did see a Loch Ness exhibit…

  • Scotland Adventure – Day 4 – Castles

    So, after all my whining about my heels, how bad were they, really?  Glad you asked: Really, they did hurt. Anyway, with my hiking complete, it was off to visit some castles.  I had originally only planned to visit one castle, Stirling Castle, one of the more famous castles in Scotland.  But with an extra…

  • Scotland Adventure – Day 3 – Cuillin Hills

    My colleague who recommended that I go hiking in Scotland recommended that I go to the Cuillin Hills.  These “hills” are widely regarded as the most rugged terrain in all of Scotland and are located on the Isle of Skye.  Considering that they are only about 3,000 feet in elevation, I didn’t believe they could…

  • United Kingdom – Ben Nevis

    After the prior day’s travails, I slept in pretty late for me – 9:00 am.  I was debating whether or not I should hike Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the UK, given the poor condition of my heels, but this was the primary mountain I came to climb. Physically, I wasn’t sore from the…

  • Scotland Adventure – Day 1 – the Pap of Glencoe

    I spent July 3rd through the 6th in London at an academic conference.  With my airfare covered by my university, and having made two prior trips to England for conferences, I thought it might be fun to extend this trip by a few days to see more of the United Kingdom.  I asked Debi if…