THE BLOG @ jonathanerber.blogspot.com

My New Project Truck

2011-12-27T14:08:00.000-08:00

This summer I bought a 4x4 s10 pickup, with the 2.8l gas v6, and the Borg Warner T5 trans. Over the fall I pulled the 2.8l v6 out and swapped it with an Isuzu 2.2l Diesel. My hope is to get about 35mpg with this truck. We'll see how well that pans out.

Here's a video of the conversion though. Enjoy!

My Motorcycle!

2011-12-27T13:59:00.000-08:00

This summer I got a project bike. It's a 1986 Honda vf500f, and I got it with new tires/chain/tune-up/handlebar electronics/etc... It really just needs cosmetic work, but it came with a new tank so after some paint and such, it should be a nice bike!

Here's a video of it. It doesn't have a front fairing on it in this video, and the video is kinda junky, but it gives you an idea. :-)

My new Car! 1991 Chevy Camaro RS

2010-06-18T20:08:00.000-07:00

2010-03-07T18:40:00.000-08:00

Just in case people think Waste Vegetable Oil is for wimps...

Before and After

2009-12-03T13:25:00.000-08:00

The day after I bought it.

Just before I left Illinois.

Now.

Total cost. <$0

Thank God for Vegetable Oil, and great deals! :D

More WVO news.

2009-10-06T16:31:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple videos related to my Vegetable Oil hobby.

Here's a video of how I fueled my 1800 mile trip out west on 100% Waste Vegetable Oil. Ok, I did use a little less than a gallon of Diesel starting and shutting it off on my way out.

Here's the latest on my Vegetable Oil filtration setup.

Idaho!

2009-08-21T10:11:00.001-07:00

Wow, it has definitely been a long time since I updated this blog, but I got a little more time than I'm used to today so I figured I'd get'er done! :)

For those of you who don't know, I am now in Idaho mentoring with Dr. David Erb, studying music! Dr. Erb teaches at New St. Andrew's College, and Logos Christian School as well as being chief musician at Christ's Church. The school year is just starting to get going, and next week will be my first 'typical' week. The weather has been amazing! Mid-low nineties on average, relatively dry and blue skies! Great summer weather. :)

Here are some pictures from the way out, hopefully more to come as the year progresses...

Heading through Montana, totally in my element. All 28 hours and I never got sick of the sound of that thing. :)

Looking extremely healthy! :) I couldn't have asked for better.
I drove the whole 1500 miles to Moscow, ID on vegetable oil, using less than one gallon of Diesel starting it up and shutting it off.
Along the way I did roll over 222,222.2 miles! :)
I like this picture cause you can see my rig and get a taste of the scenery! :)
Ok, enough about my truck...
Somewhere in South Dakota I believe, almost Montana.
Almost through the pass! The mountain scenery was amazing in Montana! I wish I could have captured it better with my camera.
Through the pass, and the beginning of a gorgeous view on the other side.
Thank you for the welcome Idaho! This would have been at almost 11:00pm, and Idaho desperately needs new paint on their roads! My technique was find a vehicle going a decent speed, hang on their tail for dear life, and hope they know the road better than I do. lol
Last Saturday a group from the area went out hiking in the mountains near Elk River Falls. Such beautiful scenery! It was a cool day, but that didn't keep us out of the water... Over the barricade we go, and down the mountain goat paths (where we had the luxury of them)!
Hiking/sliding down the slope to the swimming hole at the middle falls. :)
At first we swam at the middle falls which you can see at the top of the picture. After spending about a half hour there, we climbed down to the bottom of the lower falls and swam/climbed up the river right to the bottom of the lower falls, where there was a neat little ledge behind the falls that could hold about six guys or so. One neat thing about being behind the falls there was that the wind from the falls was causing the air to swirl in such a way that if you threw water up in the air, it just kept going up! lol It was also neat jumping off the ledge into/through the water fall. The force of the water was incredible!
Afterward we drove up to Elk River where we got some Huckleberry Ice Cream. :) Mmmmm...
For reference, you're looking at about half the town right here. Haha...
On the way back we got stared down by Mrs. Cow... Many thanks to our trusty driver, we didn't hit it this time! :D
Oh and Idaho cows are very different than Illinois cows! This cow turned and ran up the slope to our left effortlessly! Like a deer! Haha... I couldn't believe my eyes.

Sorry this has been really choppy and fast, but I've gotta run and move some timpani's with my truck. Hopefully more to come later!
To the church and other friends back home, I miss you guys!

Veggie Mobile Tour

2009-04-20T19:37:00.001-07:00

A tour of the mostly finished conversion (I always seem to be modifying something).

More info on Waste Vegetable Oil :)

2009-03-25T16:55:00.000-07:00

I've been in the process of organizing/updating/rebuilding all my Waste Vegetable Oil stuff that needed improvement. Here's my new oil filtration setup!

New Exhaust on my Truck

2009-02-11T18:47:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple videos of my most recent project on my truck! The weather has been so good the last few days that I just couldn't help getting outside and climbing under that thing. :)

As you can see in the second video, I decided to put the exhaust outlet behind the rear passenger's side tire. I found a guy who'd do the whole thing for only $70, so I went with it! I was a little nervous due to the low price (other shops quoting around $200), but the final product was very well done! They did a great job on it. :)

2009-02-02T18:56:00.001-08:00

Sorry I've been silent on here for so long. :/ Here's a video from last weekend with my little niece Camille! :)

Vlog Update

2008-12-12T13:06:00.000-08:00

First off, last weekend we got Luke's truck up and running on Waste Vegetable Oil for the first time! :) Here's a video from that...

Secondly, we've been having some crazy weather up here!
And where exactly is the road? Unfortunately all the roads were not covered with snow, and the bare ice is what's really scary!

Update 11-17-08

2008-11-17T15:36:00.001-08:00

Last Saturday I finished my first program on the CNC. I didn't get a chance to run it until today, but here's the video of it!

Any CNC programmer can tell I didn't do this quite right, but hey it worked! :) I wrote the program entirely by entering X, Y, and Z coordinates.

Last Saturday after work I helped rake leaves, which included some fun with the little guys. :)

Notice Winston at the end of the video. I think he's got some leaves in his mouth! :)

My Kind of S10!

2008-11-17T15:33:00.000-08:00

Now this is my kind of S10! :) Uh, I'm talking about the big one... And could we make that a 6.5L Diesel? Haha...

Work, lots and lots of work.

2008-11-08T15:15:00.000-08:00

Over the past couple weeks there's been a lot going on. It started for the most part while working nights in Chicago laying tile in a bank down there...

Driving down in my truck is always fun! I love driving in the city!

Here I am on a scaffold laying tile in el Baño...

Oh, I didn't mention it's called 'Banco Popular', so we spoke as much Spanish as we could. :p The rooftop view at night is really neat!

And there is one of the bathrooms that I tiled. Thanks Aaron for all the cuts! Aaron also drove my truck home one night so I was able to see it on the road for the first time! That was pretty cool. :)

Last Wednesday I went from working nights in Chicago to working in Woodstock at Phoenix Woodworking, on a shift starting at 6:00am. That took some getting used to! I'm enjoying it there, and have been spending a lot of time learning/operating the CNC. Here are a couple videos of that.

For The Beauty Of The Earth ~John Rutter

2008-10-13T11:43:00.000-07:00

Making Progress

2008-10-09T16:53:00.000-07:00

Among the many tasks around here in preparing our home for winter, I am still making progress on preparing my truck for winter! Here's a couple pictures from yesterday...

Start by scratching the roof about three million times. A fingernail works great for this. lol jk Definitely want a power tool for this one!

Mask the edges and...

Apply spray-on bed liner to top of cab! I did this cause with all the junk that sometimes gets piled in my bed (and overflows onto the roof) the roof was getting beat up, and starting some light surface rust.

I also put spray-on bed liner on the bottom few inches of the truck, to prevent rust from breaking out down there. How do you like the new color scheme for my wheels?

I'm guessing I'll be done with the exterior sometime middle of next week. Stay tuned!

And for a little of something new that I've been up to...

Here's the scrap yard where I'm taking junk metal from a neighbor who is cleaning his barn! :)

Winter is coming!

2008-10-01T14:37:00.000-07:00

Well winter is on it's way in Northern IL, and today the high was around 55 degrees! I decided it's finally time to finish up all the 'summer projects' that I wanted to do on my truck before winter Haha... So today I went out and started on a couple small rust holes that needed to be dealt with, as well as coating the bottom of the body with spray on bed-liner to protect it from dings and consequently rust. Here's the beginning of the project...

Here I am freezing in my junky work clothes that are much better in warm weather! lol

Stay tuned for pictures of when it's totally done! I doubt you'll recognize the truck. :)

Myth Busters!

2008-09-27T14:58:00.001-07:00

Before junking an S-10 blazer that I had, I took it out to try push-starting (or pull-starting in this case) an automatic. I've heard that you can do this if you get it up to 35MPH. To me it sounded like a hoax, but I gave it a shot.

There you have it! Myth busted! Haha...

1st Place!

2008-09-22T16:17:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Last weekend was our church's 10th Anniversary Celebration! One of the events was a Pinewood derby, and my car took 1st place! Here are some pictures of it...

My car is the yellow and green one (Bio-Fuel colors), and here it is waiting in the pit for the next race.

1st Place!

I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.

2008-09-16T17:53:00.001-07:00

But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me. ~ Psalms 22:19

---------------------------------------------------

Instead of re-writing the story, I figured I'd just insert some clips from my journal that tell the story:

Aug. 29, 2008
Today we drove the three hours from the Hector’s home to the Pacific Ocean. Swimming there was great! We were wading out as far as we could, and then being swept in as big waves would knock us off our feet. The power of those waves was beyond words. It was so much fun! But because the waves kept coming in with such force we weren’t able to get out to where they were just beginning to break.

Toward the end of the day after playing in the waves, running up and down the beach, playing catch and digging holes in the sand, I decided to try getting out there one more time. I was very exhausted going in, but didn’t see any danger in it. It didn’t even cross my mind as dangerous. I figured it would wash anything up to the shore with its amazing force! So out I went. There were a few guys with me, but I was faster moving out than they, keeping about ten or so feet in front of them. All of a sudden I got out to where a wave broke between them and myself! This drove them inward, but only pushed me farther out. Immediately I started swimming for shore. The swells were huge out there. Between the swells in one valley, I remember touching the bottom, but otherwise I was swimming. It took me no time to realize I didn’t have the energy to fight back. I was under the waves a lot... ...I tried rolling on my back to float, but I’m not much of a floater, and I took in a lot of salt water. I knew I didn’t have a chance. I broke the surface and yelled for help, and the next wave broke behind me! It must have been a huge wave to break that far out, but it drove me in to where other waves were breaking, which drove me back to shore... ...Thinking back, my last words before ‘help!’ were ‘now I’m ready for something big!’. That was back immediately before I was separated from the other guys. At that point I was just excited to have finally made it out to where the big waves were beginning to crash.

Walking away from it... ...It’s obvious God has his hand on my life, and without him I’m truly helpless! Life is truly a vapor. The fact that I’m alive tells me he has more in store for me... ...BTW, from re-reading what I wrote it sounds like I was out there a few seconds. There were a lot of details I didn’t fill in. I spent a few minutes out there struggling, going up and down, and drinking salt water before I finally called for help. I honestly don’t think I could have survived much longer. Even afterward, when I was wading into the shore in thigh deep water, the waves that hit me there kept knocking me over.

Right now I’m laying in the back of the Hectors van cause every muscle in my body hurts. Literally, even the muscles in my feet ache. I’d be sitting, but that hurts my back muscles so bad. Haha… Even eating dinner hurt. I was holding onto my sides during dinner cause of the pain of stretching the muscles with what I had just put inside me... ...I guess there’s a lot to be said for a vigorous aqua-cise after all! :)

---------------------------------------------------

The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust... ~ Psalms 18:2

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him. ~ Psalms 28:7

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. ~ Psalms 46:1

In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. ~ Psalms 62:7

My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever. ~ Psalms 73:26

The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation. ~ Psalms 118:14

O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle. ~ Psalms 140:7

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. ~ Isaiah 12:2

...Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD. ~ I Chronicles 28:20

I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. ~ Psalms 18:1

1st Anniversary!

2008-08-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

One year ago yesterday, my truck drank WVO for the first time! :D

Here's a link back to the pictures of it's maiden voyage. CLICK HERE! It's amazing how much one year changes things. The only thing that's the same on the conversion one year later, is the tank and part of the fuel lines!

January 18, 2007

2008-08-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

Isn't it pretty? And we swore we'd never buy gas again...

Makeshift Turbo Controller

2008-08-12T10:14:00.000-07:00

What do you do when you want more turbo power for less? Ok, this isn't exactly professional, but it saved me $110 bucks, and for the most part it works!

With this goofy little wire I doubled my turbo pressure! I still have too much back pressure on my exhaust system. Maybe I can change that. ;)

Please note that this is not recommended for 1994 and newer 6.5L diesel engines.

I can't even sit still

2008-08-08T18:49:00.000-07:00

So for those of you who know me, you know my "luck" with police has been bad from day one... actually no, from day eight to be more precise. If you can imagine it, I can be stopped for it, and I'm NOT exaggerating. To quote a cop that was referring to a ticket he was giving me, he said "Well, you were thinking about doing it". Haha... Well, today something happened that I had never imagined. I was stopped in a parking lot, with the engine off, outside my vehicle, messing with my turbo linkage. Yep, apparently there is a local ordinance against working on your vehicle in a parking lot!

Fortunately he was nice about it and didn't give me a ticket.
:D

Winston Playing in My Truck

2008-08-02T08:04:00.000-07:00

As is normal for little Boys, my nephew Winston loves cars and trucks! So while working on Luke's truck the other day, he enjoyed playing in my cab. Here's a cute video of him last Thursday.

Luke's Truck's Conversion

2008-07-31T19:28:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple days I've had the pleasure of converting my second vehicle to run on Vegetable Oil! Ok, it wasn't MY second vehicle, it was my SECOND vehicle to convert, but it was actually my third conversion! :) Confused yet? Nevermind...

This past Tuesday I went over to my friend Luke's house to work on converting his Diesel truck to run on Vegetable Oil! Here are some pictures from the week...

The main 'workbench' over at his house on tuesday

Part of the conversion at the end of Tuesday... Far from complete, but we made a lot of progress! :)

On Thursday (yesterday) he brought his truck over, and we spent the afternoon and evening trying to wrap things up. In this picture Luke is soldering the 'T's onto the ends of the heated fuel lines.

In this picture I believe Luke is trying to route the heated fuel lines up from the darkness beneath.

Waiting for another wire to pop through the firewall...

...from Ethan my faithful companion electrician. Thanks Ethan for volunteering your help! It was GREATLY appreciated.

Not sure exactly what is happening here, but there is Luke, his truck, myself, and the open door to my blazer (which served as a make-shift tool shelf).

We weren't able to finish completely last night, but they spent the night and after an hour or so of work this morning it's almost done! The only thing left to do is fabricate the fuel tank in Luke's toolbox, and patch into the fuel lines!

This is going to be one sweet ride once it's done, especially after Luke gets the part fixed that makes it go. :P

210000 miles and going strong!

2008-07-25T12:30:00.000-07:00

2008-07-22T10:23:00.001-07:00

Also, I will now continue to be updating my little "Amount Saved By Converting My Diesel To W.V.O." meter on the lower right column of my blog. So stay tuned!

More Cool Stuff

2008-07-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

Here are a few videos that I took yesterday in relation to my WVO (waste vegetable oil) stuff:

The 'user' view of my conversion.

My filtration setup

The speed of warm vegetable oil

I hope this picture didn't scare you too badly! I still have my truck, and I'm not planning on getting rid of it (sorry if you were interested). There's a story behind this one though...

Part 1: Lately I've been looking for an older s10 blazer to convert to a gas/water hybrid. I wanted to start experimenting on something cheap, but was having a hard time finding a cheap enough blazer with a good engine. So a few days ago I decided to quit the hunt for now, and wait until the time was right.
Part 2: Yesterday a guy came into DeCraenes Service Center (where I work) and told me that he decided to junk his s10 blazer that we were working on. I said not a problem, and he proceeded to ask me if there were any junk yards in the area that would come pick it up... :) I was suddenly thrilled to hear that he didn't have someone on the way yet! So I offered him the going junk-car rate, and got the blazer for $175!

I'm excited to see what will come of this, although I'm a little bit suspicious of this Blazer still :)

This post is more for my pleasure looking back years from now

2008-07-19T15:41:00.000-07:00

Today I worked on my truck, connecting the turbo boost/vac gauge. I love the sound of my truck!

Here it is running without the intake manifold. I had to remove the manifold so that I could drill and tap a hole in the side without getting metal filings in the engine. While it was off I had to start it up...

I love Diesel engines! Watch how this thing shakes when it shuts off. It means one thing... it's a high compression diesel engine :)

This post is for my personal enjoyment, but don't be embarrassed if you find it extremely thrilling as well... It's ok, normal, and expected to feel chills when operating or observing a Diesel vehicle.

Changing by the minute!

2008-07-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

Last night Joseph and I dropped the two top gauges into the truck. The one on the left reads fuel pressure, and the one on the right is a Turbo Boost/Vacuum gauge. I installed the fuel pressure gauge so that I can monitor the pressure that my veggie oil system is delivering to the engine, and I installed to turbo boost gauge so I can tune up the turbo of course! :)

Supposedly the 6.5L Turbo Diesel that I have is designed to handle up to 17psi boost pressure, but the stock pressure on my system is only set at 3-5psi! I am definitely going to be raising that! I'm thinking of targeting the 10-12psi range. No sense blowing an engine over a little fun! haha...

A New Conversion!

2008-07-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone, I know it's been a long time since I've said anything on here, but I was out in Washington for about a week (post about that coming once I get pictures back) and since then I've been working a lot on my truck. I just 'finished' it last night, and thought I'd get some pictures up here of it!

There I am, perched happily under the hood of my gorgeous truck!
---------------------------
I thought I'd do a little before and after :)

Here is what the engine compartment looked like about a year ago when I finished converting it for the first time!

Here it is as of a half hour ago! :) Much more classy! I owe a HUGE thank you to my Dad who specifically helped me with the design of the new mounting plates/locations, to Mr. Hirst who generously offered the services of his machine shop to make the mounting plates, to Nathan DeLadurantey who got me started on this in the first place, hahaha! ...and to my whole family for enduring the mess I've made with oil, tools, and parts everywhere!

Here is what my dash looked like one year ago (although I did have a vent cover for that dash section, I just couldn't find it in a picture).

And lastly, here is my dash now! Again, I owe a big thanks to Dad for lending me his design expertise!

---Oh and as a side note, a couple days ago our local Wal-Mart had a 50% off moving sale! So I was able to pick up some nice electronics very cheaply including the CD player shown in the picture, and the camera that took the picture!

Well, that's pretty much it for now! Once Jessica gets back in town I am planning on getting some pictures from the Washington trip up, so stay tuned!

Recent Happenings

2008-06-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

Wow, so much has happened since my last post! I'm going to attempt to touch on some of the 'bigger' or more unusual things that have happened over the past month.

Over the weekend of May 17th the Rock Valley College Chamber Singers went on tour down to St. Louis. This picture speaks for itself!

Here I am headed over to the St. Louis Arch to enjoy a short nap at the museum after a wonderful lunch at Max and Erma's! THANK YOU MR. LAPRADE!

Part of our group in St. Louis

Then school let out and we headed straight for the lake! Well, not quite... Some friends from California (the Hector family) visited with their new sailboat, so we just HAD to test it out on Lake Geneva.

Actually the Hectors tested the boat while we just rode along :) For more about the adventure, click HERE

For the last week in May, Joseph and I headed out to Virginia to record and run AV at Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy.

A reception for Chief Justice Roy Moore on the patio outside the conference center.

Everything went very smoothly except the last three hours in this room. Due to "dirty power", and flat out power failure, things got a little chaotic! Fortunately, none of it was our fault and considering the obstacles, it could have gone much worse!

Last week the Strands hosted a group of guys for some paintball fun! Here we are preparing to be attacked on the first round. You can see our opponents just beginning to walk out of the trees on the opposite side of the field. I definitely preferred attacking the hill rather than being attacked.

Last but not least is all the work I've been doing on my truck! Here you can see I ripped out the headliner. I'm planning on reupholstering it, and hopefully getting CHEVROLET put across the ceiling just to the back of the visors.

I have also been rebuilding my vegetable oil conversion, after having it brutally ripped off by a mechanic that I won't be sending any more work to. :/ So far all I've got under the hood is the mounting brackets and the wires. I have everything for the conversion assembled, I'm just waiting for the final mounting plates from a machine shop that a friend in our church works for. I can't wait to finish this job! I haven't skimped on anything, and it should run without a hitch!

One of the new additions to this conversion is a fuel level sender, and gauge that I installed. It'll be nice to know how much grease I've got back there! Haha...

My dash in process. By the time it's done I'll have added four switches and four gauges.

The switches will control the:

VO/Diesel valve
power to the VO fuel pumps
electrical glow-plug fuel heater (for an extra heat boost in cold weather and cold starts)
return fuel line valve (to the VO tank)

The gauges will show:

VO tank fuel level
VO fuel temperature
fuel pressure (not absolutely required for the conversion, but HIGHLY recommended)
turbo boost pressure (unnecessary for the conversion, but will allow me to safely tweak things for higher performance)

Here is one of the gauge pods that I made with the design help of my Dad (having a Dad who is an engineer is GREAT!).

Aside from that there is always summer work to be done around the house, including some less expected work projects like cleaning tornado damage! I was washing a window in my parents room when the tornado came through and we lost the tops of three trees, as well as one that was pulled up from the roots!

I had never experienced such unbelievable winds before, but I had heard that "hurricane force winds" were due to be arriving soon so I didn't even think to run, I just thought 'well the wind has arrived!' :) The most amazing thing was how quickly and without warning it came and went. If I had run for the stairs immediately, I doubt I could have made it to the main level by the time everything was over.

Praise the Lord nothing was damaged besides the trees!

Thanks for letting us use your saw Jeremy!

The ever growing pile of branches. We finally burnt it all yesterday. WOW! What a fire!

Relaxation! :) Well not really, with the little nieces and nephews around you've got to always be on your toes! Here I am whacking Winston on the head with a foam float... I made him cry, but he got used to it and eventually returned the fire :)

Well, I think that wraps things up for the most part. In early July I should be putting up a video of the Veg' Oil conversion install! Until then, ttfn!

Lego 1440 rpm V8

2008-06-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

Lego Mindstorms is a brilliantly simple combination of sensors, actuators, and logic control that can be made to do the most devious and delightful things. Like this lego maniac who built an air-powered V8 engine with a rev counter on one of the cams. That counter tells us this baby can crank up to 1440 RPM, and that's without any kind of lubrication system. The cool part is, even though it's all plastic and powered by air, it still has that comforting V8 sound. (Hat tip to Phillip!)

I've been published!

2008-05-26T06:27:00.000-07:00

I got my two cents into the Chicago Tribune! :)

"Jonathan Erber of Harvard, who in August converted his 1993 Chevrolet diesel pickup to also run on vegetable oil, prefers Chinese restaurants. "I get higher performance from their peanut oil. I barely touch the pedal and it gets up to 60 [m.p.h.]," he said. "When I see a Chinese restaurant now, I go there."

If you'd like to read the whole article, click HERE.

LAST CONCERT!

2008-05-19T20:04:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! This Thursday, May 22nd at 7pm the RVC Chamber Singers and Women's choir are giving a concert at Zion Lutheran Church in Rockford. This is the last concert that we are giving this semester, and possibly my last concert with them ever!

Hopefully you can make it! If you have any questions please let me know! I believe there is no charge. I think it's a benefit concert for something in Rockford.

WVO Progress... Settling Tank

2008-05-19T19:45:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! Now that I'm out of school I'm getting back to rebuilding my Waste Vegetable Oil system (that for many reasons has sat dormant during this past semester). Today I worked on building a much higher tech version of the settling tank than what I had before. Here are some shots of today's work:

Here is the settling tank. As you can see, I have wrapped the lower half of this tank with heating wire. This heating wire is designed to warm up the vegetable oil, consequently lowering the viscosity of the oil and accelerating the settling process. During the settling process large contaminants and some moisture separate from the oil. As you can see, the spout that I have coming out of the side of the tank is some distance from the bottom. This allows the large contaminants (French fries, peanuts, cabbage, etc...) to collect at the bottom of the tank without clogging the filters during the filtration stage.

Here is some heating wire set into groves that I have cut into a piece of 3/4" foam board insulation. This is what the tank sits on, consequently heating and insulating the bottom of the tank.

Here is where I finished up today. As you can see I have insulated the outside of the barrel, as well as built the mounting plate for the pump which is also in the picture.

The next step will be mounting the filters and connecting all the PVC. Then this setup will be ready to roll! :)

I am going to try and continue updating this blog with my progress as I completely rebuild my WVO setup. Also, stay tuned and hopefully when I re-install the conversion on my truck, I will be able to put up a step by step video! :D We'll see.

I'm FREE!

2008-05-12T11:40:00.001-07:00

Well, almost :) My finals are all done, and it's just the fun stuff that's left! Like a Chamber Singers tour, final concert, and two papers. Hahaha....

5 down, 3 to go

2008-05-08T09:37:00.000-07:00

Today I wrapped up two more finals! :) I now have five down and only three more to go!
Also, today I think I realized I'm really going to miss certain parts of school. :/

SCHOOL IS OUT! :D

2008-05-07T13:26:00.001-07:00

Yes indeed, today was the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! Now it's just on to finals...

Gotta go study! Bye!

Rock Valley College Choirs Concert!

2008-04-18T18:25:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Tomorrow evening at Court Street United Methodist Church, three choirs from Rock Valley will be performing! These choirs are the Chamber Singers, Women's Choir, and Concert Choir. I am a member of both the Chamber Singers and the Concert Choir. If you've got the evening open, we'd love to see you there! It starts at 7:30 and I think it costs $5 per person. One of the highlights of the evening will be excerpts from Carmina Burana (almost the whole thing).

If you have any questions, let me know! Hope to see you there!

It's SPRING!

2008-04-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

SPRING HAS SPRUNG! It was 73 degrees out today! :)

Here's some pictures from yesterday when it was almost as warm!

I am so excited! After having my right shoulder dis-located for two months last fall, it's finally starting to get back into shape! Although everything I'm throwing is pretty wimpy still :/

This is Ben, a friend and fellow pianist from school. Ben plays some seriously mean Jazz piano!

Fortunately the ball didn't go in the water too many times :D haha...

Truck for sale!

2008-04-15T20:39:00.001-07:00

Hey if anyone is looking for a really sweet Diesel truck, check out the one below! It's in great shape with Only 172,000 miles on it. Asking $6500 O.B.O.

*tires not included, but a set of stock rims with brand new tires is included.

A mighty machine, with a 3" Suspension Lift!

Chrome bull bars, bug guard, wind deflectors, and lighted visor.
*note minor paint peeling and very light surface rust below doors.

Chrome bed rail guards, and tie downs.

Bed liner, and some really sweet sounding exhaust! :)

This truck runs, drives, and sounds GREAT!

Oh, and if you want it converted to vegetable oil, that is always an option :)

Why Friday was Wierd, Part 1

2008-04-13T20:53:00.001-07:00

Thought ya'll might enjoy this... It's just one part of why that Friday was so wierd :)

I'm wierded out

2008-04-04T15:03:00.001-07:00

Today is officially a weird day

A 1st for my truck!

2008-03-31T18:40:00.001-07:00

Today I found the limit...

Was it the soupy mud?

Was it too much weight?

Was it because 4x4 wasn't engaged yet?

I don't know... But I still love my truck!

Even if it doesn't have silly off-road tires like Luke ;)

My new WVO kit...

2008-03-20T18:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a while since I updated this blog! But I trust that if you want a general idea of what I've been up to, you've been able to find some stuff on my family's blog about that. Anything not on that blog about me would be, school, work, and maybe a few other insignificant things that I may or may not have blogged about anyway. :) Actually, I would be blogging a decent amount if I had the time, but I don't have the time, so I basically won't be posting a decent amount. Haha...

Here's a few pictures of my latest project, which is rebuilding my Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) system on my truck. The only reason I'm rebuilding it now (instead of during the summer when it's warm and I have more time) is because a mechanic that I took my truck to completely removed my original system! He said it needed to be rebuilt anyway. lol! I said I knew it did, but not NOW! Oh well... So now I'm back at it, and I'm REALLY excited about the new setup! It's going to be so professional, so compact, and SO overkill! :D Right now I'm working on designing/building a prototype mounting bracket, which consequently requires the building of certain components. Here's a picture of me working on the new system...

This is one of the assemblies I worked on tonight. This includes the fuel filter, one of the fuel pumps, the extra glow-plug fuel temp booster, and my fuel thermometer.

Josh and Abbey... MARRIED!

2008-03-01T16:46:00.000-08:00

I know there's LOTS I could be blogging about right now, but I haven't been able to get pictures to successfully upload for quite a while, and to be honest I've been quite busy! Anyway, for pictures of Joshua's wedding check out my family's blog! It was a such a beautiful day! The wedding was wonderful, and I am excited beyond words for Josh and Abbey! :) Right now they're out of town on their honeymoon, and we're eagerly anticipating their return.

Congratulations Josh and Abbey!

IMEA trip

2008-02-06T14:21:00.001-08:00

Last weekend I took a trip down to Peoria, IL with the Rock Valley College (RVC) Chamber Singers. While in Peoria we attended the annual IMEA state conference, which was Outstanding! I loved it! However the main reason that we all went down was because we were performing two concerts over the weekend. One was at the IMEA conf', as we were a featured choir, and the other concert was held at a Lutheran Church. Both concerts went fairly well, esp considering the circumstances. :)

We left RVC at 6:00am on Thursday morning and returned Saturday around 4:30pm. It was a great trip with a great group of people! I had a lot of fun and learned a lot!

Here are a few pictures from the trip, and a video clip of the men of the Chamber Singers singing a piece.

Enjoy!

Here we are performing at the Thursday night concert.

The composer of one of our pieces (Thou Art the Sky) was there! Ladies and Gentlemen, Paul Carey!

Is that our cab? No, due to the cab that never showed up we stood in the cold for well over an hour... It never came.

Boarding the bus for dinner and karaoke, on Friday night.

I hope you enjoy this video of the men singing 'Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now'

Please forgive the distorted audio quality in this video.

SNOW!

2008-02-06T14:20:00.000-08:00

It's been snowing for about 24 hours! WOW! It's beautiful outside!

The RVC Chamber Singers in concert!

2008-01-26T19:45:00.000-08:00

Hello all! This coming weekend the Rock Valley College Chamber Singers will be taking a trip to Peoria, IL, where we are going to be featured at the annual IMEA State Convention! We are (I'm pretty sure of this) the first two year college to ever have one of it's choirs featured at this convention! We are all excited, and busy preparing.

We will be giving two concerts while in Peoria. One will be at the IMEA Convention and is only open to IMEA members and conference attendees. The other concert that we'll be giving will be held in Washington, IL, and is open to the public. Details on this concert are as follows:

January 31st, 2008
St. Marks Lutheran Church
200 S. Main St
Washington, IL
7:00 pm - no tickets required, freewill offering will be taken
Call (309) 744-2553 for more information!

I'd appreciate your prayers for the trip, and esp that everyone would be in good health. There has been a nasty flu bug going around the area, and the last thing we need is to all be sick!

I will try to post pictures and a recap of the trip next week! So stay tuned!

2008-01-23T10:40:00.000-08:00

During this year's presidential race there seems to be a lot of attention put on the religious beliefs of the candidates, as though somehow that alone determines whether or not they're going to be a good leader. While I'll agree that the religious beliefs of our future president are important, I think we should focus on what they stand for, not only what they say they believe.

As you may already know, I support Ron Paul for president in 2008 because of what he stands for, not just because of what he says he believes. For articles by Ron Paul, and information on his views, visit Ron Paul 2008 > Issues.

And, in case you're wondering what his religious convictions are, here's what he has to say on that...

"I have never been one who is comfortable talking about my faith in the political arena. In fact, the pandering that typically occurs in the election season I find to be distasteful. But for those who have asked, I freely confess that Jesus Christ is my personal Savior, and that I seek His guidance in all that I do. I know, as you do, that our freedoms come not from man, but from God. My record of public service reflects my reverence for the Natural Rights with which we have been endowed by a loving Creator."
~Ron Paul

Ron Paul on "Christmas in Secular America"

2008-01-20T18:31:00.000-08:00

I've been reading a lot of writings by Ron Paul lately. I am continually blown away by how precisely his arguments match what I believe the Bible has set out as a pattern for proper government. His distinctly Christian and biblically based views are something I hope others will catch onto.

Here's an article of his that I read on Christmas in secular America. He makes a number of good points beyond just the topic of Christmas. I hope you enjoy it!

________________________________

by Ron Paul, Dr. January 5, 2008

As we celebrate another Yuletide season, it’s hard not to notice that Christmas in America simply doesn’t feel the same anymore. Although an overwhelming majority of Americans celebrate Christmas, and those who don’t celebrate it overwhelmingly accept and respect our nation’s Christmas traditions, a certain shared public sentiment slowly has disappeared. The Christmas spirit, marked by a wonderful feeling of goodwill among men, is in danger of being lost in the ongoing war against religion.

Through perverse court decisions and years of cultural indoctrination, the elitist, secular Left has managed to convince many in our nation that religion must be driven from public view. The justification is always that someone, somewhere, might possibly be offended or feel uncomfortable living in the midst of a largely Christian society, so all must yield to the fragile sensibilities of the few. The ultimate goal of the anti-religious elites is to transform America into a completely secular nation, a nation that is legally and culturally biased against Christianity.

This growing bias explains why many of our wonderful Christmas traditions have been lost. Christmas pageants and plays, including Handel’s Messiah, have been banned from schools and community halls. Nativity scenes have been ordered removed from town squares, and even criticized as offensive when placed on private church lawns. Office Christmas parties have become taboo, replaced by colorless seasonal parties to ensure no employees feel threatened by a “hostile environment.” Even wholly non-religious decorations featuring Santa Claus, snowmen, and the like have been called into question as Christmas symbols that might cause discomfort. Earlier this month, firemen near Chicago reluctantly removed Christmas decorations from their firehouse after a complaint by some embittered busybody. Most noticeably, however, the once commonplace refrain of “Merry Christmas” has been replaced by the vague, ubiquitous “Happy Holidays.” But what holiday? Is Christmas some kind of secret, a word that cannot be uttered in public? Why have we allowed the secularists to intimidate us into downplaying our most cherished and meaningful Christian celebration?

The notion of a rigid separation between church and state has no basis in either the text of the Constitution or the writings of our Founding Fathers. On the contrary, our Founders’ political views were strongly informed by their religious beliefs. Certainly the drafters of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, both replete with references to God, would be aghast at the federal government’s hostility to religion. The establishment clause of the First Amendment was simply intended to forbid the creation of an official state church like the Church of England, not to drive religion out of public life.

The Founding Fathers envisioned a robustly Christian yet religiously tolerant America, with churches serving as vital institutions that would eclipse the state in importance. Throughout our nation’s history, churches have done what no government can ever do, namely teach morality and civility. Moral and civil individuals are largely governed by their own sense of right and wrong, and hence have little need for external government. This is the real reason the collectivist Left hates religion: Churches as institutions compete with the state for the people’s allegiance, and many devout people put their faith in God before their faith in the state. Knowing this, the secularists wage an ongoing war against religion, chipping away bit by bit at our nation’s Christian heritage. Christmas itself may soon be a casualty of that war.

________________________________

For more articles by Ron Paul, and information on his views, visit Ron Paul 2008 > Issues

I highly recommend that you do, if it were practical I think I would post all of the articles! :) It is indeed good to know that there is Hope For America!

Back to school with a new job!

2008-01-18T12:33:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago josh was at DeCrane's Service Center in Harvard, and noticed a 'help wanted' sign. The position that they were looking to have filled was for a receptionist in a shift that EXACTLY matches my school schedule! I applied for the job and got it! So needless to say, I am now working at DeCrane's Service Center doing that which I very much enjoy (talking about cars, talking to people, etc...). This was my first week working there, and it is definitely right up my alley. It takes a bit getting used to how all the paperwork is done, but I thank the Lord for providing the job! I have about five-ten minutes of free time between school and work (all depending on traffic), so I'm running a very tight schedule. I'm leaving for school in the early morning and not getting home till after dinner! Then I get my couple hours of study before bed.
Right now I feel like I could go sit in a corner and sleep! I am SO TIRED!

Well my first week of school and work is almost done! I just have a concert that the Chamber Singers are singing at this evenning, and then I'm off for a nice long four day weekend! :) Thank God for 'holidays'!

SCHOOL!

2008-01-13T19:32:00.000-08:00

School begins tomorrow, along with my new job! I'm going to be running a jam packed schedule this spring, and you prayers would be GREATLY appreciated!

An excellent parody, on a terrible song :-)

2008-01-12T10:49:00.000-08:00

You've GOT to see this!

My bro-in-law put it very well on his blog... Check it out HERE.

Many thanks to the Hill family for showing it to us! I laugh so hard every time! :)

My beautiful friend is...

2008-01-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to work with North Country Interiors up in the Milwaukee area, laying flooring and such. There were two job sites that we were working on that day. Jeremy and I were working on a wood floor, while Aaron, Nathan, and Luke were over at the other location doing flooring of various types.

At one point during the day Nathan swung by our location to take my pickup truck. I took special care to make sure that the Veggie Oil system was off, and that the truck was running on Diesel. To make a long story short, Luke ended up having quite a rough time with my truck, which was not running very well. In retrospect, I think somehow the switches for my veg' oil system (which I haven't labeled since I'm usually the only one that drives my truck) got switched, and being that my Veg' Oil tank was empty, the injector pump got fed LOTS of air. For those without mechanical knowledge, this is NOT a good thing for a diesel engine!

After talking with Luke (who was out driving it at the time) I gave him the instructions that I thought he needed in order to keep it running, and get home back to their job site.

It was now about 5:30 or 6:00pm, and Jeremy, Nathan and I were wrapping up the work at their job site. We got everything packed up and ready to go, but still no Luke (that poor guy hates my truck now). We decided that Jeremy and Nathan would head home, and I'd stay back and wait for Luke, who finally did show up. We packed up our tile saw (which is a painful story in itself ;) and headed for home... I threw the truck in gear, gunned it and we were out of there! Well not really, we only made it to the end of the driveway, where it died. :( Luke laughed, and I let him know that my beautiful truck had been mistreated, and just needed it's fuel lines bled to remove the air bubbles. We decided to stop at the first gas station and bleed the lines, however we didn't even make it that far. As we drove out into the dense fog, my truck just kept dying, and finally it wouldn't start back up...

...Oh wait, this story is getting long again, sorry...

So Jeremy and Nathan came to pick Luke up, and called AAA for a tow. After a quick bite to eat, the three of them headed home while I waited in my truck for the tow. It was a marvelous little time I had there :) haha... I sang along to some music, went for a little jog to stay warm, and even took a nap! I was actually quite cozy after the jog, and after what seemed like just a few minutes, I was awoken to the sound of the tow truck! :) We got it loaded up onto the back, and headed for home...

WHAT A RIDE THAT WAS! The guy had only gotten about a one hour nap in two days, and was about ready to un-voluntarily take another! We drove at about 25mph the whole way home. :( I didn't realize how tired he was until we came to a railroad crossing where he stopped for a LONG time. After about ten seconds or so, I asked what we were waiting for... suddenly we started going again. That was one tense ride home! I really didn't know if we'd make it! But, after over two hours, we finally made it home from New Berlin.

But the story doesn't end there, as I took off my jacket, I noticed a letter from the Secretary Of State on my desk. It carried... ...well... ...even more bad, BAD news. :(

Further diagnostics on my truck show that I apparently blew my injector pump. I just praise the Lord that Luke didn't get stranded in it! I'm afraid what he'd have done to my truck without me there! LOL!

So anyway, if there are any philanthropists out there that feel like helping a guy out, I've got a big bill on my hands, and could really use some help! :-)

Oh and to answer the title of this post, my beautiful friend is... ...taking a long rest out in our driveway. :D

The Do-It-Yourself Messiah

2008-01-05T16:52:00.000-08:00

Wow! So school is out and the holidays are in, and I'm... ? Well, not particularly busy, and yet very busy all at the same time! I think I've gotten so used to busy meaning school, that anything that's not school isn't busy! But indeed much has been going on. Let's see, on the first day of school break, I cleaned my desk! Yeah! Ok, that may not sound like a big deal, but it did take all day! Haha...

I'm not going to fill this post with EVERYTHING I've been doing, just a few highlights. So let's see, first off is the Do-It-Yourself Messiah!

This year the Do-It-Yourself Messiah started at 2:00pm on Saturday, so the typical gathering of Messiah goers that gathered at our house, was much earlier than normal. We were on the train by 10:30am, but unfortunately being as early as it was, I didn't make it out of bed in time... Haha... Just kidding of course! :D Here are some pictures and commentary from the day...

Here we are on the train heading into Chicago!

My bro, Josh, with his fiancée Abbey Hill. I think they were enjoying the evening ;)

Here is the traditional picture of our group on the traditional stair case!

After The Messiah, we all went to Giordano's where we enjoyed a fabulous dinner in our own party room! :)

One of the tables...

Another one of the tables...

The room we reserved, with another one of the tables...

Yet another one of the tables...

And last but not least... The boy's table!

Oh I might add... Tom Del' did come with us that evening, but as you can tell... He was in a very unusual mood. ;) Lol!

Well I was going to post a few more pictures from the evening, but Blogger is getting cranky, so I'm going to call it quits for now. Stay tuned though! I still haven't told you about our Christmas, my truck breaking down, our New Years Eve party, or... Oh yeah, I'm getting ready to head back to school!

2008-01-02T12:47:00.001-08:00

New post coming soon!

Oh, and if anyone is looking for a really cheap car (like $400), that gets really good gas mileage, let me know! I think I can line up a Saturn SC2 coupe for you.

Stay tuned for a new post soon! In the mean time you can see a slide show from our new years party by visiting Dawn's Journeys!

Stop by Barnes and Noble!

2007-12-13T16:45:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

Tomorrow (Dec 14th) is THE DAY to do your holiday shopping at Barnes & Noble! Tomorrow the Rock Valley College Music Ed. Club will be having an all day fund-raiser at Barnes and Noble, in which 10-20% of all Barnes & Noble sales (on December 14th) will go to the Music Ed. Club. These funds will be put toward music trips for Rock Valley College's music students!

One of these trips is to Peoria for a statewide music education conference, at which the RVC Chamber Singers will be featured in concert! Another trip takes place in May when the RVC Chamber Singers go on tour! YAY! :) At this point, the more money we get, the more we sing! :)

So, make sure to be at the new Barnes and Noble in Cherry Vale Mall on December 14th!
Your support will be greatly appreciated! :) We hope to see you there!

SCHOOL IS OUT!

2007-12-12T14:00:00.000-08:00

Hurray! School is out for Christmas Break! The last of my finals was yesterday afternoon, so I am done! YAY!

Yesterday I brought the chocolate fountain to school for the music students who were finishing the semester with their performance juries. According to popular demand, I am supposed to bring it for Midterms also next year LOL! I don't know about that, but at least it made for a sweet end of the semester! :)

Yeah Ben, that one was for you. Haha...

Oh, I'm one day into break and the only thing I miss is driving my truck. Yes, I miss that a lot! :D

I'm Saving Money!

2007-11-29T20:43:00.000-08:00

Indeed ladies and gentlemen! I have broken even on my Vegetable Oil conversion! After just over three months of running on Vegetable Oil, I have saved enough money to pay off the initial cost of my conversion! YAY!

:D

From here on out, nearly all my travel expenses are covered! Keep an eye on the figure at the bottom of the right hand column of my blog, to follow my savings on Diesel for my truck! :)

Concert Friday November 30th in Rockford!

2007-11-27T19:18:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone! This Friday in Rockford is a Benefit Concert (for Habitat For Humanity) that the Rock Valley College Choirs will be putting on! There is no charge for admission, but a 'Freewill Offering' will be open to benefit Habitat For Humanity. I will be singing in both the Concert Choir and the RVC Chamber Singers Ensemble (obviously not at the same time hehehe!).

The concert starts at 7pm... For more details give me a shout! I hope to see you there!

Concert Tomorrow Night in Rockford!

2007-11-15T14:59:00.002-08:00

Hey everyone! Tomorrow night (Friday November 16th) is the 'big' concert of the season for the choirs at Rock Valley College!

It will be held in Rockford at Court St. United Methodist Church, at 7:30pm. Admission is $6 for Adults, $5 for Students and Seniors.

Hope to see you there!

Let me know if you have any questions!

I can throw a ball again! :)

2007-11-01T18:27:00.000-07:00

Well after having a dislocated shoulder for two months, it felt great to finally throw a ball again yesterday!

About a week ago we scheduled a chiropractor appointment, at which Dr. John popped my shoulder back into place. I can finally do normal activities like carrying heavy stuff and throwing a football! :) YAY! It's amazing how much we take healthy joints for granted!

Oh, if anyone is wondering what's been keeping me busy lately, I'll tell you... School. Sorry, not much else to say. Hehe!

Living Life Economically

2007-10-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago in my Economics class we talked about the Law of Diminishing Returns. This law basically states that for each extra unit of product that you consume, you gain less and less benefit each time. Eventually, the additional cost of consuming that last additional product is higher than your additional benefit, at which point you refrain from consuming the product.

With that in mind... I am very much the type of person that likes to be around people, but today I spent the whole day home alone, and didn't see a single soul until about 6pm. All day I only saw a total of seven people (four of which were my family members). AND I LOVED IT! So what made me suddenly enjoy being alone instead of being with people? Well, if the Law of Diminishing Returns is true, then I guess I've consumed to many people?

I don't know, just food for thought I guess.

Fun Off-Road

2007-10-25T18:16:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I took my truck Off-Road for the first time! I was driving home down rte. 173 when I saw some farmers in the field harvesting corn. I recognized the opportunity I'd been waiting for, so I pulled off the road into the field to ask the farmer if I could drive around a bit. ;) He said "Sure no problem, just don't tare things up too badly!" :)

So for the first time I took her off road. YAY! I'd like to do it again sometime, where there's more mud and a need for skilled driving (or at-least 4x4). :)

Oh and I'm finally learning how to sew! Here's a picture of me sewing filters for my Waste Vegetable Oil. :)

2007-10-25T16:57:00.000-07:00

An interesting fact that I discovered tonight, is that Waste Vegetable Oil users are protected in Texas, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, and Rhode Island by tax exemption laws! :) GO VEGI OIL! :)

2007-10-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

Alas, it's 4:50, I am still at school, and I should have left the area around 3:00pm!

Why am I still here? Well for one my piano lesson went 20 minutes over. And the more primary reason, my truck just blew a $1.99 injector return line fuel cap! This was a temporary cap (designed for vacuum lines) that was installed by my mechanic. It was supposed to be replaced with a new one long ago, but I haven't taken the time to do it, so... Now I am required to take the time sitting around doing nothing extremely productive, and in general, inconveniencing numerous people.

Anyway, stay tuned, and maybe I'll take the time to put up a new blog post soon. Before I start inconveniencing even more people.

:)

GO CUBS!

2007-10-03T18:39:00.001-07:00

LET'S GO CUBBIES LET'S GO! (clap, clap) LET'S GO CUBBIES LET'S GO!

Concert Dates!

2007-09-30T18:18:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! Well the fall concert season has come! :) Here are the dates for the Rock Valley College concerts that I'll be singing in with Chamber Singers and Concert Choir.

October 6th: 7pm Chamber Singers, Women's Choir and the Northern Illinois Masterworks Chorus. (Freewill Offering)

November 6th: 7pm Chamber Singers, Women's Choir and (I think) the Western Illinois University Chamber Singers. (Freewill Offering)

November 16th: 7:30pm Chamber Singers, Concert Choir and Women's Choir. ("Three Choirs Concert" - $6 for Adults, $5 for Students and Seniors)

November 30th: 7pm Chamber Singers and Women's Choir. (Freewill Offering to benefit the Homeless)

December 2nd: 2pm Chamber Singers, Women's Choir and Concert Choir. ("Sibelius Concert" - $10)

January 18th: 7:30pm Chamber Singers and Women's Choir. ("The B's Concert" - $unknown)

Well that's all as far as I know.

As a quick update... Everything with school is going good! I'm very busy, but learning a lot. Well that pretty much covers everything. LOL! I have been working on Saturdays laying flooring, but other than that I'm pretty much consumed with school right now. More updates to come as events happen! Stay tuned!

Update 9-14-07

2007-09-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

Well, school is back in full swing, and I'm as busy as ever! Let's see... There's a few things I need to update ya'll on. First thing since my last post was a Dance at the Hill's house! Since you know about my blog, you've probably seen pictures of it on our family's blog, but here's some pictures you may not have seen.

Joanna and I trying the gallop. Kinda a comical picture :)

Luke and myself in our tuxes.

A candid shot of my friend Luke. Looks like a model huh? :)

Ok, I have no clue what I'm saying or demonstrating, but Daniel doesn't look very impressed. LOL!

Sitting around talking after the dance. Thanks Hills! That was a night enjoyed by all!

Next comes school! This semester I am taking 19 credit hours, so I'm VERY busy! I'm taking mostly music classes, but in addition to those I also have a Speech Class, and an Intro to Economics class. Everything is going quite well! I don't have many pictures, but here's two that you might like.

Here's a picture of the Rock Valley College Chamber Singers. This is a big year for the Chamber Singers... Our group sound, and the musical skill of everyone, makes for a Great group! Next spring we are being featured at a Music Ed conference in central IL, and it looks like we'll even be going on tour! This is the first time in seven years that a Choral group from a two year college has been featured at this conference, so I'm really looking forward to it! This picture is from when we sang at the 9/11 remembrance service at RVC.

The Music Theory 3 class with Mr. Beert is going excellent! The class is great, lots of fun, and the students are all very serious about their work. Here's a picture of some fun that we had before class a week ago.

It was Allegra's birthday (one of the girls in class), so when I found this out (before class started) I went up and wrote "Happy Birthday" on the board. We had a lot of fun with that (as we always do in class :). The orange writing on the board is mine, the brown is Mr. Laprade's help with dynamics and tempo, and the blue slur up to an "A" at the end was done by Mr. Beert.

Thanks Mr. Laprade and Mr. Beert for all the hard work you put into us students!

Indeed My Truck Is Eating Chinese! :-)

2007-08-30T17:03:00.000-07:00

On my last update I had just finished the conversion on my truck. Here are some pictures from my truck's maiden voyage running on Vegetable Oil from a local Chinese Restaurant!

These pictures are from last Saturday just after my previous update.

Gassing up, and getting ready!

More of Joanna's artistic touch as we drive out the driveway :)

Just having a blast vegging! :) LOL!

Snif, Snif... Is someone grilling, or is that my truck? Oh and I might ad... my truck smells DELICIOUS! :) To be honest it smells like someone has BBQ Chicken on the grill. :)

Snif, Snif... Is that us? NO! That's the farm down the road! Joseph apparently doesn't like the smell :) LOL!

More of Joanna's cool artwork as we drive home :)

Oh BTW: Be sure to watch the bottom of the side bar (to your right) to stay updated on how much money running on WVO can save someone!

WVO Update!

2007-08-25T13:45:00.001-07:00

Last night I FINISHED My W.V.O. conversion! :) Ok "Finished" is never finished, but the current system is up and running! :) Here's some pictures from yesterday's final push to get it done.

Me under the hood again!

Just a little tip, disconnecting and re-connecting short rubber hoses behind an engine is difficult, and VERY UNCOMFORTABLE! Not recommended unless necessary. :)

An artistic photo by Joanna from inside the cab.

I LOVE MY BEAUTIFUL TRUCK! :)

WOW! That looks posed! But sorry, it's not, I'm actually working :)

Here's my little work area, fully equipped with a nice fan to shoo all the mosquitoes away! The mosquitoes were by far the biggest delay in this job. I couldn't work during the night because of all the bugs! But a fan did the trick, and I've been able to put in two late nights this week and get it DONE! :)

Another artistic photo by Joanna through the wonderful fan that kept all the Mosquito's away :)

The conversion is done! Here's a shot of me bleeding the fuel lines to remove the bubbles.

Almost There: WVO Conversion

2007-08-09T15:50:00.000-07:00

For those of you who haven't heard, I'm working on converting my truck to run on Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO)!

I'm almost done, and I should be able to watch this thing eat Chinese within the week! :)

Stay tuned for a more detailed update once it's done.

The AUX tank install almost complete!

My Summer Math Course is DONE! :)

2007-08-01T19:24:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday was the Final Exam for a math course (Gen Ed Math) that I was taking at Rock Valley College in the Summer Interim III! It was a three week course that covered a full semester of work! The math teacher said it was not a condensed class at all! Anyway, it was by far the hardest class I've taken at RVC so far. We covered a little of statistics, geometry, trigonometry, algebra, logic, and more! Anyway, I spent all day Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday studying for the final exam, :/ but I think the exam went very well! PRAISE THE LORD!

On the way home from the Final Exam, I decided to stop at Wendy's for a Crispy Chicken Sandwich and a Jr. Cheese-Burger.
After I got my order at the drive through, I started driving away and thought to myself: Wait! I smell French fries! I opened my bag and in it was a medium french fries! YAY!... ...But wait!... Where is my Crispy Chicken Sandwich? Nope, not there, they left it out! So I went back and the lady at the drive-up told me to go to the second window and they'd fix my order. So I pulled up, they handed me another bag, and said, "I put your Chicken in there". I said "thanks!" looked in the bag, and what should I see but Chicken Nuggets! Not a Crispy Chicken Sandwich like I had ordered! I looked up and said "Oh, I didn't order Chicken Nuggets either! :)" She said "I know baby, I made those just for you!" I said "well thanks, but I DID order a Crispy Chicken Sandwich, can I?..." She said "that's in there also, under the nuggets, I made those just for you, sorry baby, didn't mean to mess up your order." I said "oh wow! Thank you so much!" And drove away quite happy with my $2 meal of Chicken Nuggets, Medium Fries, Jr. Cheese-Burger, and a Crispy Chicken Sandwich. :) But the story doesn't end there! By the time I got around to eating my Jr. Cheese-Burger, I opened it and realized that this was not a Jr! I got a full size burger! YAY! Now I was really happy! :)

I hope Wendy's messes up my order next time, and oh, I might ad... That's not the first time that that Wendy's has messed up my order. :) I guess you could call me a faithful patron from now on? I don't know, I really prefer Burger King... ...hmm... ...But that's another topic for another day. :)

Paintball Party Pictures

2007-07-30T18:14:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Here are some pictures from the paintball party last saturday! It was so much fun! There were thirteen of us total, six on our team (the red team) and seven on the opposition (green). The green team totally dominated the field all day, except for one of the Revolutionary games, and the big fire fight at the end.

The big fire fight at the end of the day was my favorite. It was a full half hour of intence action. And, I might ad that we REALLY CREAMED THE OPPOSITION ON THAT ROUND! :). I shot a total of approx 1500 rounds all day, and 600 of those rounds were in that last fire fight! I must say that I am SO GLAD that the end of that round came when it did though, cause I only had 10 shots worth of co2 left! :) That's way too close for comfort! But the teamwork that we were able to excersize durring that last round made it everything!

THANK'S STRANDS FOR A WOUNDERFUL DAY! :)

Daniel Hill re-hydrating for a big day of paintball ahead.

Grant Iler re-thinking this whole idea of getting shot at :) LOL!

Stuart strand preparing his last words.

Joseph Erber locked, cocked, and ready to rock.

The green team preparing for battle near their main fort. Oh yeah, last thursday we tore down a fence from some lady's yard in Algonquin, so I brought those fence segments up to the Strands to use as barricades. That's what the fort was made out of, and we had a lot of them scattered around the woods.

Ethan Webb getting ready for another round.

The green team preparing for battle.

All the lady observers watching the Revolutionary area battle :)

The Red team preparing for the revolutionary style battle.

The red team in the favored position preparing to fire!

The troops starved, waiting to eat.

Here are a few other blogs with posts from the day: Joseph Erber, Grant Strand, Ethan Webb

Paintball Day Post Coming Soon!

2007-07-30T08:13:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was a big paint-ball day at the Strands house! There's a bigger update to come, so stay tuned! :)

Methinks Joanna got her hands on my gun and exercised some of her artistic talent? :)

My New Paintball Gun

2007-07-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

In preparation for the Paintball Day that Grant Strand is hosting, I recently bought a Tippmann A-5. I got it in the mail on Wednesday, and today I finally had a chance to look at it, and take it out to do a little shooting.

Here's a picture of Caroline with it.

I let her shoot some, and boy is she trigger happy! :)

4th of July Party / New Glasses!

2007-07-13T15:18:00.000-07:00

On July 4th the Yen family hosted our entire church + some other friends for a big Independence Day Celebration! We had a BLAST!

The festivities started around 1:30 when a bunch of people met at the Golf Course for a round of Golf. It was my first time, and it was so much fun! Fortunately we played best-ball, so while our team had the lowest score of all the teams it still wasn't terrible, esp. considering that three of the four people on our team had never played Golf before! Our team was made up of Mr. VonHolten, Luke VonHolten, Joseph and I. Needless to say, Mr. VonHolten held our team up :).

After Golf all the Golfers headed back to the Yen's house to join everyone else for a wonderful evening of food and games (football, egg toss, three legged races, and other different types of group games). Toward the end of the night it became apparent that the eggs used for the Egg Toss were VERY durable! So some of the people started throwing the eggs as high in the air as they could to see if they'd break when they hit the ground. Most of the eggs didn't break, but it did grow into more of an egg fight fight than anything. REALLY MESSY! :)

Thanks so much Yen's for the wonderful party!

Sorry, no Golf pictures :(

Josiah and I... We won the Egg Toss! Oh yeah, and there is a picture of me with the Glasses which I've had for about two months now!

Joanna and I... We won the Three Legged Race!

RVC Chamber Singers in Concert!

2007-07-12T13:46:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone! Here's a piece that we (The Rock Valley College Chamber Singers) performed at the end of the Spring '07 semester.

The microphones were at the front of the stage, so they definitely picked up the strings more than the vocalists. But I hope you enjoy it!

Movements 1-4

Movement 5

Movements 6 & 7

Jamestown 400 Trip - Vlog 01

2007-06-09T19:58:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody!

Yesterday I tried making this vlog post on our drive out to Virginia. Sorry, it is really rough, which is due to the fact that my computer can't handle video rendering very well. :-( Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Video of The Day

2007-06-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

The Elantra Sold!

2007-05-28T12:32:00.001-07:00

I don't know how many of you have heard about the Hyundai Elantra that I had for quite some time. But after four months in the shop (with many parts being replaced or rebuilt) it has finally gotten out, and last Saturday it SOLD! Praise the Lord!

Also, since it was finally out of the shop, I got a chance to get some pictures of it. Here are a couple of them.

My new truck

2007-05-08T15:25:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I got a new truck! I've been looking for a Diesel to possibly convert to run on Vegetable Oil, but haven't found one that had what I wanted within my price range. Basically I was looking for three things:

I wanted a GM pickup, (or Suburban or Blazer).
It had to be a 1993 model or older (in 1994 they started using electronic fuel injection which is no good for vegetable oil).
I also wanted it to be 4x4.
I also wanted it to be a 1993 (since that was the only year that they made a 6.5L Turbo Diesel engine with mechanical fuel injection)
It had to be under $1500

I would have been fine with one of the older non turbo 6.2L diesel engines, but ideally I wanted a 1993 with the 6.5L Turbo Diesel.

Basically what I wanted, and the price it had to be didn't match, so I was having a hard time finding anything half decent until...

This truck came along.

This is a 1993 (YAY!) Chevy (YAY!) Pickup (YAY!), with 4x4 (YAY!) and the 6.5L Turbo Diesel (YAY!). Best of all they were only asking $1200 (YAY again!).

The problem was that the ad said the engine was seized-up (Grr, not so good!). I decided to call the guy anyway and ask what the symptoms of the problem were. He proceeded to explain the problem, and I got to thinking it was more of a starter problem than an engine problem. I went to look at it and it wasn't even a starter problem! The only problem was that one of the starter bolts had broken, and the other had bent! So with $10 I headed over to Napa Auto Parts and picked up two new starter bolts.

Now have have a great running truck that I couldn't have found anywhere else for less than $3500 at the least! I am so excited. It has a new:

Transmission
Torque Converter
Alternator
Gas Tank
Radiator
Tires
Exhaust system
and now it even has two new starter bolts :-).

This truck runs and drives great, and has almost no rust at all! Oh, it also came with fender flares, mud flaps, and a tough looking chrome farm bumper (on the rear)! I couldn't have asked for a nicer truck at this price. I can't wait to get it converted and start driving it for free!

Concerts Friday and Saturday, April 20 & 21

2007-04-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! The Rock Valley College Concert Choir, Womens Choir and Chamber Singers are going to be putting on a joint concert Friday and Saturday, April 20 & 21 at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Rockford!

I am in the Concert Choir and the Chamber Singers, but I'm obviously NOT in the Womens Choir.
There are also two pieces that I'll be playing the piano to accompany the Concert Choir on. So if you've got either of the nights open, I'd love to see you there!

Tickets are $5 for adults and $4 for students. The concert begins at 7:30pm.
If you've got any questions feel free to send me an email, or post a comment.

Update! 4-15-07

2007-04-15T18:27:00.000-07:00

Oh my word! I can't believe it's the middle of April already! Here's a little update of what's been up over the past couple weeks.

___________________________

I've been very busy with school, esp. with all the piano and voice practice that I've been doing. Much of my practice time lately (basically all of it) has been towards a couple pieces that I'm accompanying the RVC Concert Choir on! They're both really neat. One is the 7th movement of the Beethoven Choral Fantasy (wow! that one is just plain fast!!), and the other one is a gospel piece "John the Revelator". This one is a lot of fun, and VERY different in style from anything I've played in the past.

___________________________

A couple weeks ago we housed a few boys from Bradley University after a concert that their Chorale and Chamber Singers gave. They were a great bunch of guys, and I really enjoyed their visit and the concert (which by the way was incredible!).

Here's a picture of me with the boys we housed, right before they left the next morning.

___________________________

Would you believe it! We got a snow storm this week! How crazy is that! This is April right?

___________________________

My Elantra remains locked up at the mechanic waiting for yet another replacement part to the electrical system. This should be in tomorrow, and it should be the last part.

___________________________

Yesterday the RVC Chamber singers (of whom I am a part), were guests at a concert by the RVC Consortium. This was so much fun! The RVC Consortium string ensemble (with whom we had the honor of doing a joint piece) were good beyond what my own uneducated pen can express. They were really seriously good, but I'm not even going to try to continue telling you how good they were. We sang Bach's Cantata #150 (with the Consortium), and then two pieces on our own: "Adijo Kerida", and "Done Made My Vow".

Afterwards, we went out for pizza which was fun, and, oh... It was one of the girl's birthday, so we sang "Happy Birthday". You can imagine me thinking, wow! I'm about to sing "Happy Birthday" with the Chamber Singers! This will probably be one of the best performances of this song I have ever heard! No! I was totally WRONG! I don't know if "Happy Birthday" is too far below the Chamber Singers for them to even consider stooping to that level, or what! But apparently it wasn't worth singing to them, so it was sung (or yelled) much louder and more monotone (right in the middle of the restaurant mind you) than I have ever heard this song sung! Boy, I REALLY wish that was recorded.

___________________________

There should be more regular updates to come, but no promises until the middle of May.

On Christ, the solid rock, I stand.

2007-03-31T19:48:00.000-07:00

This is one hymn that I have found myself singing a lot lately. It is always a refreshment and inspiration to me.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name.

Refrain

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

Refrain

His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.

Refrain

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

Refrain

~ Edward Mote

Random Photo of the Random Moment: Sweet Ride?

2007-03-24T19:33:00.000-07:00

Random Photo of the Random Moment: Hmm... Sweet Ride?

We saw this truck when we were in Maine a few years back. Not sure who the artist was, but a major commendation on the job!

Call Of Duty

2007-03-20T17:47:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we had some friends over to play Call Of Duty for my Birthday. It took us a while to get everything installed, but thanks to Daniel Hill and Grant Iler (who set up the LAN) all the computers connected very smoothly.

Many thanks to everyone that contributed to the evening! I had a blast (literally :-), and I hope everyone else that came did also. Here are some pictures from the evening.

Team 1 from left to right: Myself, Luke VonHolten, Nathan DeLadurantey, Ethan Webb, and Sebastian Fowlks (plus Tom DeLadurantey who you can't see hidden in the back on the other side of Ethan)

Team 2 from left to right: Grant Strand, Josiah Erber, Grant Iler, Joshua Erber, Daniel Hill, and Joseph Erber.

Spring Has Sprung!

2007-03-13T16:24:00.000-07:00

Wow! Talk about warm (or HOT!) weather today! I think it got up to 72 degrees this afternoon!
I took a nice long bike ride today and didn't feel cold for a split second!

I love this weather!
It better not get any hotter for a while, I think I'd melt.

Um, Hello?!?

2007-03-08T18:10:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am still alive - but just barely! I've been swamped with school stuff (lots of music), and haven't really had time for anything other than that.

Liberty Day was a couple weeks back, which went very well! I personally had a lot of fun and I hope all the attendees were blessed.

(Click HERE, HERE, HERE, or HERE to see pictures)

On the car front, things haven't been going too well at all. A 1988 s10 pickup that I had blew a head-gasket a week and a half after I got it (I didn't lose anything on that, but I sure didn't make as much as I wanted!). Overall it was definitely worth getting the truck. It was a lot of fun driving around in a beater with that much guts, and let me tell you, that thing had guts!

My 1994 Hyundai Elantra GLS has been one problem after the next.
1: Due to some bad idle speed sensors I had to get those replaced.
2: Due to a tiny hole in the block and a jumped timing chain I had to get the engine replaced.
3: Due to a bad computer the car wouldn't start and the computer had to be replaced.
4: Due to the new computer I can now read all the codes and see everything else that is wrong with my car. Grr...
5: Due to a bad air-flow sensor I had to get that replaced.
6: Due to the fact that I was told I could pick up my car today from the shop, I drove 50 minutes just to find out that it wouldn't be ready until tomorrow.

Would somebody please accidentally run into my car so that your insurance will replace it?!?!

We'll see what tomorrow holds...

(Ok, that's not actually my car - mine is bright red, but that is what it looks like when I'm driving! ;-)

A quote by Patrick Henry

2007-02-07T05:55:00.000-08:00

"Adversity toughens manhood. And the characteristic of the good or the great man is not that he has been exempt from the evils of life, but that he has surmounted them!"

~Patrick Henry

Skiing!

2007-01-17T15:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went skiing with some friends at Wilmot Mtn! Check out the report on our family's blog.

Random Photo of the Random Moment: The RV Crew with The vonTrapp Children

2007-01-06T13:24:00.000-08:00

Random Photo of the Random Moment: The RV Crew (back row), with The vonTrapp Children (front row).

I was organizing the photos on my computer when I came across this photo from May 2005 when The vonTrapp Children sang at the annual ICHE state homeschooling conference. If you can't tell, we're all doing our best not to smile for this picture.
The RV crew did the ushering and crowd control for the concert, therefore we're not in our usual uniform of blue on blue w/ burgundy bow ties.

The back row from left to right is: Joseph Erber, Adam Back, Dustin Webb, Jonathan Erber (me), Aaron Englund, Joshua Erber (the Boss), Nathan Back, Isaac Back, and Luke VonHolten.
The front row from left to right is: Justin, Amanda, Sofia, and Melanie vonTrapp.

1988 Chevrolet Diesel Suburban FOR SALE!

2007-01-02T15:00:00.000-08:00

Hey! If you're looking for a really nice Suburban (assuming you don't care about the paint), take a look at the one that I have for sale. Click HERE to see the eBay auction, or click HERE to view pictures of it.

Firewood!

2006-12-27T11:41:00.000-08:00

This morning I asked the tree trimmers that were on our road if I could pick up the wood that they were cutting. They said yes, and here's one of the loads of wood that we got.

Hurray for free firewood!

The LaSalle Bank Do-It-Yourself Messiah

2006-12-23T07:52:00.000-08:00

Thursday night our family along with about 65 other friends, rode the train into Chicago to the Civic Opera House to sing Handel's Messiah along with about 3,000 other people! The event was the LaSalle Bank Do-It-Yourself Messiah.

The orchestra and soloists were on stage, and the choir was us, the attendees! Maestro Stanley Sperber was our director. We did our best to stay together with the orchestra, but in spite of our best efforts we were still off at times. As a matter of fact, I don't think we've ever been more off before. I'm not sure the exact cause of this occasionally extreme division, but it was still a lot of fun.

On another note, I might add that I think the soloists were the best they've had!

Here are some pictures from the evening.

Getting ready to head out!

Many thanks to Michael Stallings and the use of the Millennium Falcon, in which seven of us were safely transported to and from the Crystal Lake Train Station.

Here comes the train!

Surprisingly, we showed up just as the doors opened and we were still able to get a seat all the way in the front! Here we are in the opera house lobby waiting for the doors to open, so we can find our seats.

Yeah! We got six seats in the very front row! Here's a picture looking back from our seats during the intermission.

On the far left you can see the bass soloist singing "The Trumpet Shall Sound". I am so glad that they had the trumpet soloist come to the front during that piece. They both were incredible!

Ahh, another one of my favorites, the tenor and alto duet "O Death, Where Is Thy Sting?". I might add that (as you can see in the picture) the alto part was sung by countertenor - Brian Asawa.

Driver Returns On Foot

2006-12-09T07:04:00.000-08:00

Wow! Talk about a lot of snow! Two Fridays ago the plan was for me (Jonathan) to pick Jeremy up from the Mechanic at 8:30, and drop him off at his house on the way to Rockford. Well, as you may have guessed that didn't happen. I was allowing an hour and a half for me to get to school (due to all the snow), but I didn't even get out of the driveway until 8:45 (I'd been trying to get out since 8:00). When I finally got on the road, the snow was so deep that I couldn't drive more than 25 mph because I was going sideways half the time. Rte. 173 was a mess, occasionally I saw the two yellow stripes in the right wheel rut, but most everywhere else I'd guess that the snow was about 5" deep of heavy, packed road snow. Needless to say, I decided not to go to school.

When I finally got into Harvard fifteen minutes later (that's about five miles, and I've gotten there faster on my bike), I had already passed one snow plow that was in the ditch (I think he missed the road), three cars in the ditch and one pickup truck stuck in the middle of the road.

The snow was falling so fast that my windshield wipers were clogged with snow, and the side windows were continually being covered with snow, so when I actually got to the mechanic I passed it by accident because (due to the limited visibility) I just didn't see it. I ended up driving the whole way home at about 15mph with my head out the window because the windshield wouldn't stay clear. I really felt like I was in a boat because with the engine speed going up and down spinning the wheels on the snow it sounded like a boat, and with the car sliding around it felt like it too.

With Rte. 173 being as bad as it was, we decided not to try to take my car down our road, so Jeremy dropped me off at the end of our road, and then drove my car back to his house. Thus I enjoyed a 1 mile walk through the snow in the middle of a snow-storm on the way home from what would have been school (just like the old days right?).

During my walk home I did get a call from a friend saying that RVC was closed. So much for what they said about community colleges never closing due to weather. :-)

We ended up with +16 inches of snow that day. Now two weeks later - it's all gone...

Will we have a white Christmas? We'll have to wait and see.