DU hockey game

A week ago Friday, I went to a DU hockey game, which is something I'd been meaning to do since I moved to Colorado.

DU beat the University of North Dakota in an exciting game!

More trivia success

Two more trivia victories, giving us four in a row, and five of the last six! 

Me flashing the secret "E" sign for "Eurolunch":

Trivia success

We've come in first in trivia two of the last three weeks.

I think it has something to do with fewer questions aimed at children of the 1990s.

Emy

I got the sad news over the weekend that my parents had to put their dog, Emy, to sleep.  Emy was so named because they got her when they were visiting Atlanta for my graduation from Emory.  Here are some of my favorite pictures of her:

We went on many long walks with Emy.  She always liked it when I sprinted for home, even though she had no problems keeping up!  She also helped my train for the Bolder Boulder when I ran it a few years ago.  She was diagnosed with cancer last August, but luckily I was able to see her over Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Bye Emser!

Pictures from Airplanes

I've been busy the last few months, but here are some interesting pictures I've taken from airplanes over that time.

This was taken somewhere between Denver and Minneapolis on my way to see Brett and his family in early November:

Mt. Ranier flying from Seattle to Denver after Thanksgiving:

Great Salt Lake later that evening:

San Jose flying home from AGU in early December:

Louisville, CO later that night:

Boulder on my way to Washington for Christmas:

I live about half way between the two lakes along the lower left hand side of the picture.

Ootheca

Yesterday when I blogged, I looked at the Wikipedia page for praying mantises.  I saw that the ootheca, or egg case, looked familiar.  I had seen a similar looking thing on the stucco while taking pictures of the praying mantis.

Here is what's on my wall:

This also blends in well with its surroundings.  Here it is from farther away (in the center of the picture):

Wikipedia says that praying mantis oothecae are laid in the fall, and hatch in the late spring.  They are valuable for organic farmers, because all the newly hatched babies have ravenous appetites for aphids and other pests.  [I originally typed 'oothecas', but the spellchecker complained.  I looked up the proper plural on dictionary.com.  Once I had the correct plural, the spellchecker still complained; it turns out, it thought I was typing 'toothache'.]

While I'm on the subject of bugs, I saw this spider in my basement tonight.

It looks like it could be the offspring of the one that was living in my garage two years ago!

Praying Mantis

I saw this brown praying mantis in front of my townhouse today:

I'm not sure how I spotted it, because when I first noticed it, it blended in well with its surroundings!