Alden Dow House and Studio (Midland, MI) (6/20)

Alden B. Dow was the son of Herbert Henry Dow (founder of Dow Chemical Company) and student of Frank Lloyd Wright. He was an architect, and one of his most renowned piece of work is the Alden Dow House and Studio, located in Midland, Michigan.

We paid this place a visit on one fine summer day. There were 8 of us, and we went there in two cars (Billy and Wei Ping driving). We had a tour around the house, and it was extremely informative thanks to the friendly and knowledgeable tour guide.

In the afternoon, after having lunch at a pizza place in the town, we went to the Dow Gardens, which is developed by the same Dow family. Before heading back to Ann Arbor, we managed to stop by at Frankenmuth too. As usual, the pictures will do the talking:

Alden Dow House and Studio

 

                                                                          

Dow Gardens

   

Frankenmuth

 

I bet the photos are a little bit too talkative today…:P

New addition to apartment

About one year after I started working, I finally decided to buy a futon. I found this Manhattan convertible lounger online, and since it has some pretty good reviews and the price is rather affordable, I decided to go for it.

Before: One huge-ass box…Objects behind for scale

 

After: a less empty apartment

 

Now I figure I just need a bigger television, another nice standing lamp, a small coffee table with some artwork on it, and a couple pictures on the wall to make my apartment look nicer. Well, I don’t really need those though, so I shall stop spending unnecessarily…for now.

Gallup Park revisited

Not long after our Gallup Park picnic, we revisited Gallup Park again for the Rackham/RSG Day. The reason? None other than the free boat rentals and free food (yay call me cheap).

The parking at Gallup Park was extremely limited, but luckily we managed to find one spot thanks to my compact car. The other visitors who were driving SUVs or big American cars could only watch helplessly as my car slid into the space too small for their vehicles.

Py and I got a canoe, and that reminded me that my first time canoeing was with a py also. We canoed from the rental place to where the food was, and decided to tie our boat to a tree at the bank nearby so that we could go get ourselves some food. With plates of food and some cold soda, we resumed canoeing, and that was one of the most relaxing thing one can do for an afternoon. What beats drifting slowly on a river while enjoying some food, not having to worry about other things at least for the moment?

 

Gallup park picnic

Just submitted my module 4 end of module exercise, so I’m going to take some time off and write this post. Again, this happens back in May…end of May in fact, when the darling buds of May were shaken by the rough winds. Since summer’s lease hath all too short a date, we decided to have a picnic in Gallup Park when not too hot the eye of heaven shines…

Ok ok sorry Shakespeare. Wei Chieh and Jason each cooked some “bihun”, Szu Ling prepared some sandwich, Siew Gee brought some fruits, and Pei Ying and I had the arduous task of eating the food (reads thank you guys). Weather was great, but a little bit chilly. We brought Frisbees there, but too bad nobody wanted to play it except for Wei Chieh and I…so we played while others watch.

Here are some pictures:

 

 

Indianapolis

5/24/2009

Indianapolis is a rather boring place (might be an understatement), but that may be because I’m not a particularly exciting guy. During PY’s visit to Indianapolis (May, after graduation before work, around Memorial day’s time), I couldn’t quite figure out where to go. Initially we planned to go to the Midwest Games, but thanks to Swine Flu it got cancelled. Hence we went skydiving instead, and on Sunday, we went to a place near downtown to play some badminton.

After badminton we stopped by at White River State Park, a park just west of the downtown area. The park was as interesting as Indianapolis itself, however all that mattered was the company :). Still exhausted from badminton, we bought a bottle of Powerade and just lazed around enjoying the nice weather.

 

Random piece of artwork in the park

Indiana Central Canal

Indianapolis skyline

You jump, I jump

Last year, I thought of doing skydiving towards the end of my college life, but the expensive cost prevented me from doing so. This year it was still as costly as ever, but well at least I’m working now. Also I figured that time is running out for me to do “adventurous and exciting” stuff, as I always believe that a person tends to get more and more risk averse as he/she ages…

The time was ripe for skydiving when Pei Ying visited me for two weeks before she started working. She did some research and found out that there is this place in Greensburg, a good 20-30 miles from Indianapolis that offers this sports. I took a day off on Friday (5/22), and not before long we were there waiting to be thrown off the plane.

There wasn’t much training, as we would be doing tandem skydiving. We watched a ~15 minutes instructional video beforehand, and had some advise from our tandem instructor on dos and don’ts. Basically there wasn’t many things to remember, and deep down I felt that most of the people won’t do exactly as instructed anyway (like py :P)

I was given a chance to wear the skydiving suit, but opted out since it wasn’t really cold. We boarded a small plane (those with a propeller at the nose), and thus began a 10 minute ascend to the sky. I sat nearest to the transparent door of the plane, which they opened at times presumably because the cabin was too stuffy. Surprisingly I didn’t feel like I was on a death row or what. I felt worse when I was waiting to be on the Top Thrill Dragster (TTD) in Cedar Point.

When we were at about 13,000 feet it was the time. A couple of people jumped out first, including my camera lady, who was about to make a 90 bucks video of my skydiving. I was told to kneel down at the door of the plane, and at count 3 I was thrust out of the plane…not alone by myself of course. The free fall was thrilling, but not as “appalling” as the TTD. The camera woman somehow appeared in front of me after a while (can’t remember how), and all I could do is to give stiff thumbs up. After a good 30 seconds? 1 minute? the tandem instructor pulled the parachute and there was a sudden jolt when my free falling was halted. From then onwards it was just gradual descent to the ground.

Py jumped after me, so I did see her landing. It’s a relieve that both of us made it. Consider that a way to celebrate our 16th monthiversary! (and a fast way to burn money – whole experience ~ 300 usd). Guess I can cross out another item in my to-do-list.

Greensburg Skydiving – waiting area with plane seats visible behind. Py not showing a hint of nervousness…

Seeing some actions before we fly…

(Skydiving pictures are blur because they are snapshots from a video)

Here we go!!! (Cumulonimbus ready to meet cumulus)

Plunging into the sea of clouds

Flying like a bird (luckily not a blue one)

 

Click here for Pei Ying’s video. Should have posted it here but I don’t have the original copy in my computer…

Pei Ying’s Graduation

Unlike my graduation which was held in the Diag (for the first time I think), the Class 2009 graduation took place at the usual venue, the Big House. For me, py’s graduation reminded me how fast time has passed since I graduated.

This happened just one year ago:

And now it’s this:                                                                           

The bad thing about graduation in Big House was that after the ceremony, we had to walk a long way from there to East Hall to attend the actuarial ceremony.

Flowers that I bought for py after reminded by friends :P

Congrats class 2009!

Notice the box added to the Big House

 

This year’s speaker: Larry Page, co-founder of Google

Happy graduating!

 

Group photo with py’s parents

PY, welcome to the working world! All the best :)

Pei Ying’s Birthday

PY turned 21 on a Friday, and that means we could celebrate that day together. We decided to take advantage of the birthday discount to dine in the Chop House. For the most of my college life, the Chop House was known to me as the most expensive restaurant (it has since been replaced by Gandy Dancer). The jaw dropping cost of dining here had prevented me from visiting this place throughout my college life, but on the 17th of April, the time was finally ripe for a visit.

 

What we had for the dinner:

Appetizer:

Smoked North Atlantic Salmon

Salad:

House Salad

Entree:

New York Strip, 15OZ (mine)

Dover Sole Meuniere OR Amandine (py’s)

Side:

Garlic Smashed Potatoes

and a martini.

We were so full by the time we were done with the entrees that we did not have space for dessert. All in all, the food in the chop house was excellent and definitely worth a second visit (provided wallet is fat enough).