Surviving Since Grand Rapids

In Grand Rapids I stayed with my friends Peter and Shannon and their 1 year old son Theo. 

Rita's now has a gummy bear flavor of Italian ice - and yes, it does have pieces of gummy bears in it

Peter’s originally from south bend, while Shannon grew up in Grand Rapids. Theo, as you may have guessed, is also originally from Grand Rapids. I met Shannon and Peter in college - both of them also made the unfortunate decision to study engineering, so I spent plenty of late nights doing homework with them. Like me, Shannon studied mechanical engineering (she studied theology in addition to that) and then decided to work in another field (IT project management), but with baby number 2 on the way soon is now working full time as a stay at home mom. Peter, studied electrical engineering, and unlike me and Shannon does not regret his choice of major (he actually wishes he had gone more technical). He now works in computer architecture for a big avionics manufacturer. Based on the books grandparents have been buying (e.g. Computer Science for Babies), it looks like there is hope that Theo will follow in his father’s footsteps. Alas, Theo thus far has shown a strong interest in lawnmowers, motorcycles, and building towers - a bad omen that he may make the mistake of studying mechanical engineering someday. 

For the past few years, Shannon and Peter’s big project (aside from raising kids) has been home renovation. They’ve already done a ton of work (much of it themselves), but still have big plans for a kitchen remodel. 

Felt like we needed to break the text up with a picture here

My first evening in town, Peter and I got into a sampler of local beers he had put together from Founders and New Holland Breweries (Shannon stuck with water). While all were tasty, the Rubaeus from Founders (a raspberry wheat ale) was both of our favorite. We capped the night by heating up some wings from Otto's, a local chicken farm, and made sure to hide the evidence so that Theo would not be angry that he missed out the next morning. 

The next morning we had hoped to go to the zoo, but the weather did not cooperate, so we did a driving tour of Grand Rapids (during which I forgot to take any pictures, whoops) and stopped at Peter and Shannon’s favorite coffee shop, Madcap. 

I got this seasonal nitro cold brew, cherry, and lime concoction that tasted more like a mocktail than a coffee, but definitely would recommend

There was a slight break in the weather in the afternoon, so we dashed over to a local park to play some disc golf before the skies opened midway through the front nine. 

Theo seemed to get the hang of disc golf better than I did - I blame the weather conditions

Throughout the afternoon, conversation centered a lot on conspiracy theories (if you haven’t figured out yet, this is one of my favorite topics). Some highlights were: new (to me) evidence of Buzz Aldrin (allegedly) lying in interview answers, the JFK assassination, and Jimmy Akin’s mysterious world podcast (check out this episode on the Dyatlov pass Peter sent me if you're interested in a real doozy). 

It was a rough game night for me - didn't win Wingspan, Coup, or Bohnanza

Somehow we started talking about Survivor (I think it might have been my Smokey the Bear buff I always wear - everyone keeps asking if it is a Survivor buff). Talking about it turned into watching it. And next thing we knew it was 3 am and we were down to the final four of season 16. I had originally planned to leave by lunchtime the next day, but season 16 was so riveting that I had no choice but to stay the afternoon to see the finale. That and I needed to do my research for my next dream job - by the time I left Grand Rapids, Peter and Shannon had me convinced that the only logical next step after I finish my motorcycle trip is to go on survivor. Following my time in Grand Rapids, I did 7 straight days of camping to prepare. Video application coming soon.  

Keep on surviving, 

Kman