I (Robert) just finished a visit to Case Western Reserve University yesterday.  I was checking out the area and the Physics program to see if that is where we would like to spend the next five years.  Cleveland was impressive to say the least.  Once we got into the city I only saw two fast food restaurants: one Popeyes, and one Subway.  All the other places were small restaurants, many of them one of a kind.  So they get and A+ for food.

They also get and A+ for opportunities for Heather and an A- for opportunities for me.  Everyone was very cordial when I spoke with them.  Professors were excited about their research and students enjoyed being there.  It is only about 1.5-2 times the size of USU's Physics department so it felt like a nice fit for me.  It was a wonderful trip which makes my decision very difficult.

I have not visited UNC but I have talked to many professors there via phone and e-mail.  A couple of guys I know have also been accepted there so I talked to them about their experiences.  It sounds like a great place but definitely different than Case.  In they end I'm not really sure where we will end up for the next few years but we are going to try and decide before the end of the week.

By way of a quick update about Heather: she found out recently that her service hours are due April 15 instead of May 1 like she had thought so life is getting very busy for her.  I'm confident she will make it through but she is stressed pretty badly right now.  Hooray for looking ahead to the end of the semester!

Here is a quick news update from us a little more than half way through the semester.  Thursday morning we got the call that Heather's Grandaddy had passed away.  It is a sad time for her (complicated by tests on Thursday and Friday) but we know he is in a better place now.  She flew out early Saturday morning to be with her family and attend the funeral.  I am going to work hard while she is gone to try and write as much of my Master's thesis as I possibly can.

A few weeks ago I was accepted to Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH.  We are still waiting to hear from the other schools but I will be visiting Case Western later this month to check out the program.  Anyone who has helpful advice about a possible move to Cleveland please comment on this.

Today our nephew Matthew was blessed in church.  My Dad flew out for the occasion and stayed with me last night.  This morning on our way to the blessing we stopped at the cemetery in Brigham City and looked around for my great-grandfather's gravestone.  Dad found some Bywaters (his grandma's line) pretty quickly but it took us 20-30 minutes to find B.C. Call's.  It is a massive stone inscribed with his and his wife's names on the front and their kids names on the back.  

B.C. Call's gravestone at Brigham City cemetery

Obviously I never met B.C. Call but Dad remembers him quite clearly.  He was a tremendous man.  He was the first player-coach of the Brigham Young Academy (now BYU) football team.  Later in life he became a lawyer and was made an honorary Indian chief for the legal help he gave to a Native American tribe.  I think my favorite story about him is about his reputation in Brigham City during the great depression.  People knew to send any vagrants or drifters who came through town to B.C. Call's house because he would give them a place to stay, food to eat, and help them find work.  When asked why, he said that if any of his sons ever found themselves in that kind of situation he hoped somebody would do the same for them.