Flooring Ain't Boring

I noticed from a Facebook post that Rob McGill was part of a team featured at a flooring expo - so I asked Rob for more details.  Here's the original pic...

The story:
The 7th Annual RD Weis Flooring expo was held in NYC "to showcase new and innovative products from our vendor partners in commercial carpeting & flooring and is geared towards our clients in the architect & design community as well as corporate, healthcare, educational and retail end users."

I know we have a few classmates in architecture and design and commercial real estate...take note!

Here's Rob's bio on the company about us page.

Robert McGill, Senior Account Executive/Elmsford NY

Rob joined the RD Weis Companies team in May 2010. With 22 years of experience in commercial floor covering, and familiar with manufacturers and commercial dealers, Rob brings a wealth of skills and knowledge regarding project consulting, estimating, procurement, project management, and development. Rob is a deeply committed sustainability specialist, advising on and creating economically and ecologically viable solutions for corporate, healthcare, A&D, and commercial interiors. An Associate Member of IFMA NY, Rob has a BA in Geology from Bucknell University.

Colorado #5

Colorado classmate number five was two years at Deerfield and originally from Hinsdale, Illinois.  He earned the respect of Mr. Bois on a trip to Russia as a new junior and later proctored in JW with  Al Kerr, Kurt Miller and Andrew Niles (Anybody know of Andrew's whereabouts?)

He interned in DC during senior spring, so admits that he is less attached to DA than his four years at Middlebury, and his singing brethren in the Dissipated Eight...

Two teenagers and a 9 year old keep him busy when he's not focused on being CFO of a family owned moving company thats been in Denver since 1900 and has 11 locations in the US.

Our man Don Hindman gave me a tour of the impressive Centennial facility, which not only handles residential local and interstate moves but also works with companies to store and stage furniture and fixtures during remodeling or new construction.  As a new hotel gets built nearby, the GC is able to warehouse carpets, bathroom fixtures etc. then request next day delivery through an online UI!

Not surprisingly, Don is, like his statemates, a raging Broncos fan and wore his Broncos tie for the occassion.

Saying goodbye to sleep....with a smile

The "final" pic from San Antonio shows our contented classmate saying goodbye to sleep for a while.

In the flurry of FB activity after Grace was born to Brian and Hannah, it was learned that classmate Whit Armstrong has his first child due on December 20! Look forward to another welcoming announcement and the official launch of "old man" jokes...

Welcome!

DA1983 is pleased to welcome Grace Eleanor Steward to the family. Born yesterday after a 17 hour labor, Hannah and Brian are thrilled but exhausted.

Brian is pleased too that I didn't try to have a naming contest!

Like Father Like Son...

It seems that this time of year, Veterans Day specifically, puts our classmate in a spotlight.  But as his ability to tell stories gains seasoning, Ben Patton is clearly navigating his own course through family history. To wit, three short films (5 mins each) about the relationship between his grandfather and his father "between the wars".  A new segment he created for a new website for military families: WeAreTheMighty.

Around the web

Lots of great photos of classmates found here and there.

Top to bottom:

Chris Flagg and daughter Emmeline '18 at Choate Day. Given the smiles - it must have been early in the day...

Willis Elliman looking good....

Chris Lynch looking like he's on assignment...

A working pay phone outside the grocery store near me. Show it to your kids so they know what it looked like - when it was relevant...

Thanks for sending pics and for putting up with my copying stuff from your FB pages...

31 years later...

Some of our classmates we don't remember very well, usually because we had limited interaction with them back at DA.  Well, take the time to connect with them if they are nearby because it's well worth it!

Case in point: Grant Gassman.  Originally from California, Grant went to Colorado College after DA and pretty much never left the state.  He's working at a european reinsurance company these days with a 35 hour work week (half-day EVERY Friday!) so we met for Friday beverages...

It was so much fun to catch up on what we had been doing since DA and what brought us to Denver.  Kudos to Grant too for facing down the impending 5-0 with an improved diet that helped him lose 40+ pounds this summer.  He's happy and that's about all we can ask for at this point!

His hobby is racing his old Porsche (apologies for the layman's lame description of what is probably a great machine - even though its engine is currently broken). Often his fair weather Fridays take him east into the Plains to race on a grand prix like track.  He, of course, does all his own work on his cars.  The street ride he is standing next to is pretty customized as well: i.e. "it's pretty good in the snow"....

Choate Day Details

UPDATE:

It was ugly in the livestream events:

Volleyball CRH 3- DA 0
Football: CRH 45 - DA 0

I think we fared better in soccer and FH...

Well, that's it from Denver...Maybe my day will be saved by the Broncos tripping up against winless Raiders...


ORIGINAL POST from the am:

The pilgrimage to Wallingford (what's that smell?), CT is underway.  Get details on today's events and past clashes on the DA website HERE.

Complete slate of games: HERE

Volleyball LIVESTREAM 10 AM ET

Football LIVESTREAM 12:30 PM ET

hashatg for socialmedia: #beatchoate

If you attend please send pics to the blog as well: jgknight83@gmail.com

PS: This post will automatically resend itself to you tonight - sorry in advance...

Lax Bros

Taylor Watts was in downtown Denver for a lax tournament so I hustled over to Denver University to connect with him.  Both his sons play for 3d Select teams, who train in a Box / Field Hybrid™ Development System that develops skills in both field and box lacrosse.  The system was developed here in colorado but is now nationwide.  Dave Madden has a son playing it in California and so does Dave's older brother Leigh '81, who lives in Virginia.  Small world...

Will Ride for....

Josh Greenberg sent this: "Putting DA cycling skills to good use on recent trip to Sonoma.  Imbibing skills acquired later (well sort of) and not pictured.”

Chasing Gonzalo

With thanks to Mark Beaubien for the info, you should know that when NASA recently sent a special plane to monitor Hurricane Gonzalo:

"The WB-57 aircraft is also testing a new dropsonde system developed by Yankee Environmental Systems. The WB-57's focus is on the upper-level outflow from storms and its connection to the inner-core region."

(more at http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasas-hs3-mission-continues-with-flights-over-hurricane-gonzalo/#.VFKwTYdVft5)

Weather tracking and modeling will improve and probably save lives because of our man Mark!

See also this mission summary:

TCI-HS3 Mission Science Planning Summary

Friday, October 17, 2014 1500 EDT

Mission Scientists: A. Emory, J. Doyle, P. Newman, J. Dunion

Aircraft Conditions:

The WB-57 returned to MacDill AFB earlier this afternoon after its third successful flight to Category 4 Hurricane Gonzalo. HIRAD and HIWRAP appeared to perform well again during the flight today. The WB-57 flew over NOAA43 on its northbound leg and again as the WB-57 flew west outbound from the center of Gonzalo. All 61 HDSS dropsondes were successfully deployed manually from the aircraft cockpit. It appears that the sondes performed well at first in the upper levels close to the aircraft and then experienced dropouts of data at lower altitudes. Tracking of the aircraft was done with SATCOM relayed GPS positions of the sondes in the dispenser.