Wandering Around Eastern's Campus

I had to do some shopping, so I headed towards Ann Arbor after taking pictures of the train.  I kind of figured that Eastern's campus would look pretty nice, so I decided to stop there and take some pictures of it.  I think I've said this before, but I'll say it again, I never really appreciated Eastern's campus when I was a student there.  Granted, they've put some work into it between then and now but still it is a pretty nice looking campus.  Especially some of the older buildings.

 It wouldn't be a tour of this end of campus without pictures of the Water Tower.

 Welch Hall looks pretty good and so do the trees with a layer of snow on them.  Little did I realize that Welch is one of four building's on Eastern's campus that is part of the National Register of Historic Places.  I guess that would make sense since Eastern was the first teacher's college west of the Appalachians.

 Another shot of the Water Tower.

 As I was rounding the corner, I noticed the reflections on the sidewalk and the lines leading towards Sherzer.

 McKenny Hall still looks pretty nice.  McKenny is another building that is on the National Register of Historic Places.

 Sherzer Hall.

 Starkweather Hall is looking pretty good too.  This is also on the National Register of Historic Places.  I guess it makes sense since it is the oldest building on campus.

 A weird angle of Sherzer Hall.

 Another angle of Starkweather.

 My other favorite tall structure on Eastern's campus.

 The straight out shot of Pierce Hall.

 I kind of liked the reflections in the street.

I know that Ned's has been here for a while.  If you didn't want to deal with the Campus Bookstore, you could always buy books here.

Head Westward Young Man

The weather wasn't terribly cooperative today, so I decided to just make it a Wolverine day.  The fact that it was snowing would add to the pictures.

 It wasn't too long before the train appeared.  I was actually hoping to get the angle from across the tracks but didn't want to risk it.

 So it was my standard angle with Depot Town in the background.

 Besides, I think the Wolverine looks pretty cool.

 and it passed.

And it leaves with a kick up of snow.

Eastern Michigan at Toledo Basketball

So I went down to Toledo tonight to catch the Eastern Michigan basketball game.  The game itself had implications for where Eastern would be playing its first MAC Tournament game on Monday.  If they beat Toledo, they would be playing at home otherwise, they would have to travel somewhere.  My drive down there wasn't too bad.  As always, I will be posting my favorite game shot and other shots from the game.  If you want more shots from the game, go to Eagle Totem.

 The campus itself is pretty nice.  I wish I would have had more time to wander around because it looks like there were some pretty cool buildings.

 Apparently tonight's game was sponsored by Corning Fiberglass and so they had the Pink Panther there.

 Jordan Nobles during the warmups.

 Tim Bond during the warmups.

 Just another face in the crowd.

 The Toledo coach in a not so animated moment.

 These guys are part of what is called the Blue Crew.  They are students at University of Toledo and show up to many of the Toledo games.  I've seen them travel to Ypsilanti, I'm not sure if they go elsewhere.  I would have to say that these guys are pretty cool (even if they do root for Toledo).

 For the most part, the refs were pretty competent tonight but that didn't mean that Murphy didn't have any arguments with them.

And my favorite shot of the game.

So I will have one more game this season on Monday night as I don't think I will be traveling to Cleveland for the tournament.

The Starlight Snowverine

After walking at the gym, I saw that I had an opportunity to catch the evening Wolverine as it passed Ypsilanti.  It was snowing and I was losing my light rapidly, so I wasn't sure I would catch it.  As I was about ready to give up, I heard its horn.

 I wish it were a little brighter because I think this picture would look even cooler in the light.  Not that I don't mind this picture.

 As it got a little closer, it got a little lighter.  This might have more to do with the train lights not shining into my camera.

 The snow was coming down quite a bit at this point.

 A shot as it started to pass.

And one more after it passed and it was kicking up quite a bit of snow.

The Opening of the Lakes Can't Come Soon Enough

The Soo Locks open March 25th and the Welland Canal opens sooner than that.  There are a few ships that will make deliveries between ports that don't require the use of either of those canals.  That should be happening in a couple of weeks.  However, none of that can happen soon enough.

 I was able to get pictures of the barge over the weekend, but that doesn't seem like enough.  Fortunately, I have some models on my desk.  I can't really call the above boat a model though.  It was one of those stress things that someone gave me.  It's kind of cool.  Part of me wonders if it floats.  I'll call it the MV Squeezee Ball.

 And this is the paper model that I built of the Walter McCarthy.  I was able to get a model of the Roger Blough over the weekend.  I'll have to figure out a time to built that.

This is a ship I made out of balsa wood.  Since it's patterned after an American Steamship Vessel, I will call it the SS American Nondescript.

It seems pretty bad when I'm reduced to taking pictures of my ship models though.

Spring Can't Come Soon Enough

So over the weekend we had temperatures reach in the upper 60's around home.  I think they hit the low 70's in Fostoria.  Monday was still in the upper 50's and then yesterday we get hit with a snow/ice storm and today was back down in the upper 20's/low 30's.  It's supposed to get into the high 30's/40's over the weekend, so I am hoping that we had our last bit of snow for the season.

 So I was hoping to get some winter shots as I was driving into work today but things didn't quite cooperate with that.  As I was heading into the office, I saw a bunch of robins in the trees in front of the office, so I decided to put the big lens on.

 Normally the first robins you see are ones that probably stayed behind for the winter.  Not all robins migrate to the south.   It seems like those are in small groups though.  This seemed to be too large of a group to have stayed here.

 I think they were eating the berries that are in our cherry maple trees.

 At any rate, it was pretty nice to see some robins.  Even if they are robins that stayed behind, this is normally a sign that spring is around the corner.

 And the trees make for a pretty background for the robins.

 Some of them weren't as shy as the others.

 And I think that these made for better pictures.

I'm pretty sure that this one is hoping that spring comes much sooner.

Some Shots of the Chessie Cat

I was going to go to the basketball game tonight but after the fun drive home, I decided to just stay home.  So instead of basketball pictures, you get Chessie pictures.

 she was looking at me like I was crazy or something.

 She yawned as I was taking the pictures.

One more of her.