Washington D.C.

Here are a few shots I took in Washington during our two days in D.C.

The first picture is of the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial at night with the Washington Monument in the background.

The second shot is of our group in front of the Capitol Building. We toured the building but sadly enough our tour started at the same time 5 million or so 8th graders from Michigan arrived. I don’t think I need say anything more (nothing against Michigan or 8th graders).

The third picture is a night shot of the Jefferson Memorial. It had been stormy and as we were leaving the memorial I turned, looked back and caught this incredible, colored sky which really lit up the scene.

The fourth image is of the Supreme Court Library. Because I am a member of the Supreme Court Bar I was able to take our group into the Justice’s Library. (If we had an additional 10 million dollars we could make the new Snow College library look like this.)

Gettysburg

Several members of my American Government class and I went on a 6-day tour of significant sites from New York to Washington D.C. last week. Here are two pictures from our visit to Gettysburg. We arranged for a Gettysburg historian to take us around the battlefield and had a great experience. The top shot is a picture of our group standing on Vincent's Spur on Little Round Top. This is the exact spot where Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain stood while he and the 20th Maine held the extreme left position of the Army of the Potomac on day two of the battle. The second shot is a random image I took of the battlefield. The three day battle at Gettysburg is generally regarded as the turning point in the Civil War—which was a turning point in civil rights and due process in America.

The library is progressing on schedule. I have heard people suggest the box in the front right corner of the photo is a form for an elevator (northeast corner); it is actually a window well. The basement should be well lit. Notice the square concrete pier caps scattered throughout the ground level. These pier caps take the place of footings (there are no footings).

They are building the tunnel westward and as soon as they have cleared the perimeter of the plaza they will begin the plaza with the objective of completing it prior to the start of school this fall.

Hoodstock 2009

Last Saturday the Richfield campus put on a great car show for the students and community. There was a nice showing of cars, music (complements of Andy Morgan and company), food and games. It was all great. I just wish we could have all thrown our car keys into a hat and drawn out something new (actually old) to take home.

It Snowed Last Week.

This is my view of the Noyes Building when I arrived at work last Thursday morning. It snowed the night before--leaving the college covered in a blanket of white Thursday morning. We did not get as much snow as the Wasatch Front and it was mostly melted off by the end of the day. Right now it is sunny and warm and we are still on course for summer.

One Huge Screwdriver

The largest screwdriver I've seen -- placing piers in the ground to support the new library above our collapsible soils. 750 piers will be placed in the ground, each capable of supporting 100,000 pounds. Apparently the library and everything in it, including people will not exceed 75 million pounds.

Placing The Piers

Not wanting to be foolish and build our new library on sand (actually collapsible soil), contractors here are literally screwing 750 steel screws down through the soil to solid ground. Concrete caps will be poured on the piers and the library built on these caps. One of the piers can be seen in the upper right with two large threads for screwing into the ground. I understand the average pier length is about ten feet.