ISU Communiversity

Every now and then ISU host different events for the community. A few weeks into the Spring semester each year they do an event called Communiversity. I had to volunteer there for an hour at a psychology booth, so Rebecca brought the kids and met me up there. They were actually there for the full three hours, but I only got to hang out with them for one hour.

At the event they had lots of different booths from all of the different departments. Those definitely were not the highlight of the event though. They also had free hot dogs and chips, bounce mazes, hover boards (not real ones like on Back to the Future), free bowling and pool, free t-shirts, and different kinds of indoor sports challenges. Their favorite was a money grabbing room/booth. It was this small phone booth size enclosure that they got to enter. Rebecca sent two kids in at a time. Then the money and other prize papers (you could get a small candy for each paper) would fly around and the kids could grab as much as they could. Rebecca thinks because we had two kids in it kind of stopped the airflow because the kids were grabbing a ton. At the end of Ethan's turn he had an arm full of $1 bills. The lady running it made him put it down though and try again. He ended up with just $4 the second time around. Julia was in there with Elliott. She kept on grabbing the money and then handing it to Elliott to hold. But then Elliott was so excited about everything floating that he would throw it back in the air. Julia, Elliott, and Christian all ended up with $2. There were maybe 500 plus kids there, so I don't know how they had enough money to run that booth, but our kids sure loved it.

The kids said thank you several times for taking them to it. We are looking forward to the next activity at ISU. It is fun living in a college town where we can do a lot of these things.

Bengal Basketball

We got free tickets for an ISU basketball game on Thursday night. I ended up taking the boys while Rebecca stayed home with the girls. It was a lot of fun. It was our first time going in to the Holt arena. When we entered the boy's mouths dropped with amazement at how big it was. Our seats were close to the floor, but they were behind one of the hoops. We still had a pretty good view though.

Ethan really got into the game. He cheered and clapped every time ISU made a shot and every time the opponents missed their shots. Luckily ISU was winning by a lot so Ethan was really excited. Christian wasn't too into the game. He watched some, but he ended up liking to watch the cheerleaders instead. He was pretty impressed with the back flips they were doing. He even stood up at times and did his own moves along with them. Elliott was off and on. He just liked being there with all the people around.

The game started at 7pm so we ended up leaving at half time. I am thinking we might have to buy some season tickets in future years and make it a regular family activity.

Fat Tire Bike

The winter here in Pocatello hasn't been too bad. We have had a snow cover since the end of December, but for the most part the temperature has been staying in the upper 20s. With the snow on the ground though I was really nervous about riding my new road bike to work. So Rebecca really encouraged me to get a new fat tire bike. I did feel guilty buying two expensive bikes in such a short period of time (expensive for me since previously I had either gotten my bikes for cheap of Craigslist or from Walmart), but I needed something to get to work.

Here is the one I ended up getting - still trying to come up with a name if you have any ideas.

I had the choice between black and orange and Rebecca pointed out to me that since I was going to be riding this during the winter when it might be darker out in the mornings and evenings, I would stand out more if I went with the orange option. It has been great so far. I have had no slipping at all even when the roads are slippery and for its size, I think it is still a pretty light bike. I have been getting some great workouts riding home from work everyday, but for some reason my body doesn't seem to recognize that yet. It does have 29" wheels so I think that helps with the hill some.

Trip to DC

I have been really bad at getting pictures to go with my posts lately, so sorry about that.

This past weekend I have been in DC for a board meeting for an organization that I belong too. This was a pretty quick trip, I left Friday morning and am sitting in the airport waiting for my flight home now. Most of my time for this trip was spent in the meeting, but I did have time to make it to a couple nice restaurants - I get an $85 meal per diem that I lose if I don't use it up. In the past I have always just eaten in Chinatown and I usually only spent about $20 of my $85. However, last time I was here I ended up going to a great restaurant on my last night and spending the whole thing just on dinner. I decided to do the same thing this time.

I found this list online (http://www.washingtonian.com/projects/dining/100-very-best-restaurants/2015/) of the 100 best restaurants in DC. I discovered that the place I went to last time was ranked #82 (DGBG). Before coming, I was really debating whether I should just eat there again because I liked it so much or if I should try some place new higher on the list. So the first two places on this list cost either $250 or $175 per meal and you didn't get to pick what you ate, just whatever the chef made that night. The next place looked really promising and within my per diem price range, but it was hard to tell and their menu didn't have very many options. The next few places after that were either Asian or Italian and although I like both, I never feel like the restaurants are all that much better than what Rebecca and I can make at home.

I ended up going to #12 Del Campo a South American steak place. It was pretty nice. The restaurant was fancy, but it was louder inside, the tables were a little more squished together, and I didn't get a nice window seat like last time. They started with some warm grilled flat bread that I dipped in oil and their smoked sea salt. I was definitely wanting more of that! I contemplated a dry-aged 18 ounce rib eye, but ended up going with the 12 ounce rolled wagyu skirt steak that is pictured below. They served it with a big piece of the bone on top spit in half and told me that I should eat the marrow. I did eat it, but that seemed kind of weird. It was white and kind of a pudding/jello texture, but it didn't have much flavor to it. The stake itself was really good. It was very tender, especially the middle pieces. But in the end I didn't think it was seasoned as flavorful as the steak that I had at the #82 restaurant last time. I did get some steak fries on the side that were like jojo's and really good. The bill ended up being $79.


The next night the dinner was planned as a group event by the organization. It was at the #83 restaurant on the list, Johnny's Half Shell. Since it was a group dinner thing we only got two different entree options for the meal. It started with some really good bread that I wished I could share with Rebecca. It was crusty on the outside and then really soft a chewing in the middle. I think I had five or six slices because they just kept bringing it out. The salad that they served had beats in it and it wasn't very good at all. Rather than dressing they served it with a soft cheese on top and the cheese was really good. For the main dish I had the Crabmeat Imperial. Below is a picture of it that I found online. I wish I new how to describe it better, but basically it was Maryland crab that was shredded and mixed in a really delicious cheesy cream sauce. I was wishing that I had a double portion on it. Then there was a piece of lemon pie for dessert. I think the total for the full meal was a bit cheaper (maybe about $50), but I think I preferred it to the #12 restaurant too.




I feel really spoiled getting to eat at these fancy restaurants for free once or twice a year.