Almost an engineer...

We enjoyed a treck to Grand Rapids (via Bloomington, where we visited with Ben, saw the townhouse he and Elsa are buying, D.V., and brought him along for the trip) where we saw Tim graduate--- or mostly. He has completed everything for graduation, including all of his classes in electrical engineering, with one small exception. He has purposefully saved a one-credit, required physical education class so that he can run his last year of track eligibility! So, while he won't hold the diploma until after he completes his PE class next spring, for all intents and purposes, he is an electrical engineer. Way to go, Tim!

At left you will see Tim and his young lady, Nikki-Ann Reckman. She graduated (completely), and we had the privilege of getting to know her better and meeting her delightful family from Sarnia, Ontario as well. Above is a photo of the Finfamfour: Ben, Dave, Tim and Chris. At the right, are the boys with their surrogate mom, Angela, our dear friend from Ohio. In addition to coming up for Tim's graduation, Angela returned Ben to Bloomington (with a load of furniture), and she shows up whenever we need her, like for several months in Houston when Dave was ill. Thanks, Ang!

Tim is in Los Almos for several months (the exact extent yet to be determined) working at the Lab on the NASA Chem-cam project. For more info on that, see:

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/sc_instru_chemcam.html
(Click on "Instruments", then on "Chemistry and Camera" to see the instrument Tim will be helping with.)