So, the folks visited this weekend. It was all about getting lots of electrical work done on the new home. They drove up on Friday night and left on Sunday afternoon - all well times as on Saturday night we had a wondrous blizzard come through!

It was very impressive - rain, then freezing rain, sleet, and lots of thick, wet snow. When it was all done (only 2-3 hrs long!), we had 6" of snow. Dad went out to shovel it at 11pm. I thought he was crazy, but after I went outside, it was so beautiful. There was so much light, so much snow and it was strangely warm - full of energy and then I wanted to shovel it!



I put Mom & Dad to work all weekend. Got lots done, but mostly in the walls or outside in the lighting, patching walls, cleaning, etc. Time flew by while working! Oh, and Frankie was a treat to see. He's gotten much bigger since the holidays (he's got a big butt like in "Get Fuzzy")

Today was a big day at work - I got my business cards!


It's unbelievable the entrenched machines that are institutions. I spent a few days trying to modify this card. I ended up arguing with the printer directly in trying to get "email" and "mailing address" removed from the card (redundant!), but they are required by the public relations of the university (or something to that effect). I also couldn't put my NDB affiliation on the other side (I'll do it manually myself later on) to make it a dual-use card (it's annoying to have 2 cards for one person!). My only success was in getting the two top lines of the lower left there instead of them being large in the middle below my name (these small victories!).

Did I mention that my huge institution doesn't recycle plastic? I'm doing it on my own for now (as they do recycle it at my home).

I got my diplomas put on the wall in my office - they had to put in a work order for it. Also, apparently Coke Zero isn't on the allowed drinks available through the university (not to worry, I bring in my own). Yes, I'm on a roll. These aren't all complaints, more observations. I know I'll probably pick on something important to me at some point to rise up and change, but for now I'm learning and only slightly resisting. My wonderful "boss" gave me a book called "Orbiting the Giant Hairball" last spring and it seems so relevant here (and back at Stanford, etc).

I got a pneumonia vaccine injection yesterday. My arm is killing me and the numbness/pain woke me a few times in the night and kept me wide awake all day today. Funny how pain can stimulate the mind. Even a headache, but then it's harder to think. Still have some symptoms, but it's a different kind of pain. Maybe this is what institutional pain is about? The logical expanse from this is that various pain can be very beneficial in doses. (so, yes I have no need to start my own Fight Club any time soon)

Oh, and it seems everyone in the midwest is on eastern time - ie. they go to bed and get up at the exact same time they do in NY. This is unfortunate as back on west coast time not only did we get up later and leave work later, we were already 3 hrs behind eastern time zone! Needless to say, I'm finding it difficult to transition. Still working late... though starting a new wake up system - getting the heater to change to let me know when I should be out of the house (it gets cold!).

Last Friday I got to introduce myself to the UNMC community by giving grand rounds for the department of internal medicine in their large auditorium (with free lunch!). They apparently recorded the whole thing and have it online to view/listen to here (likely requires Real player, which I abhor - so I haven't tried it).

Finally got some office furniture, though I'm still using my laptop as my work computer - waiting for a new machine. Guess it's part of the new faculty life - work while you wait. Speaking of which - back to work!

So, buy a new house... what comes next? (if you ignore the washer and dryer and garbage disposal and furniture and vacuum and ... ack!)

I told myself I couldn't get a new car until I graduated. I kept my deep amethyst 97 Dodge Neon for almost 10 years and it's been fabulous, but I'm excited to announce the newest member of the gadget family: 07 Lexus IS 250! (Hau predicted this a month ago) It's currently learning the tricks of the trade in the garage with said Neon - it's a black saphire pearl color (ie. looks black, but the right light shows its deep blue insides). It's being leased for now so not too much to modify, though the first things are to get the windows tinted & get a true ipod adapter (aux audio is NOT the same!). It was frustrating that I had to educate the salesman and the manager of the dealership that I couldn't control my ipod from the car through the headphone jack (they didn't believe me until 2 days later when they spoke with their tech guy).

But it's almost max'ed out for an AWD. It's green in that it burns very cleanly, but it's a far cry from my original plan of Camry or Civic hybrid - hence the lease to wait for one like that in 3 yrs from now.

Here are the pics. Quite the presentation - I'm so excited!

Got invited by one of my fabulous neighbors to attend Creighton vs Evanston basketball game tonight. Made me dinner and showed me my first ever division I game (something I missed at Stanford). The Qwest arena is impressive! Looks like a pro stadium, not college - and everyone over age seemed to be holding a huge beer at halftime. Had a fun time, as they were down 14 pts at halftime (maybe the reason for the gluttony on beer?) and got the lead within the first 2 minutes of the 2nd half to win.

Before leaving home, I noticed something a bit unusual. A squirrel with incredible balance! Look at the previous pics to see that this critter was keeping a very unstable metal hoop completely still. Goes to show that those with the best tail do win!

Ok, I imagine the only comments I'll see here are "Where are our DVDs?!" Yes, I'm very behind. Read here for my excuses. The nice thing about this party is that you can recreate the first half of it in many different ways. The second half with everyone all together was fun, too, but we ran out of expensive catered food way too fast! The other very hard part was to keep the main scoop of the party private from those attending. But again, it was a nice way to have lots of folks attend who didn't want to role-play as much but who were happy to have fun and play along in trying to solve the mysteries. My primary mistake was in not making the person who did the foul deed be more aware of it! (though not as bad as what I did in 2000) Here's the link.

The subtitle was "Death and the sword" as those were the two main items of the story. The outside garden experience was nice, but it did get cold especially for those in tights! (guys just want a reason to wear tights, I've determined ) This time around the clues and puzzles were much more apparent even if they were still difficult. This is the only one where these two ways at solving, social interaction and puzzle decoding, worked well for the same outcome. Again, one person guessed correctly which is great, but I always have lots of thematic gifts/prizes to give as prizes for best outfits, acting, best logic, etc. This time while I was working on reading the submitted solutions, the bard (Blake) did a great job keeping everyone entertained with a story. Kudos! Also, of note was having Terry and Jamie in full Robin Hood and renaissance Nobility outfits get stopped by the police on the way to their car! Here's the link.

Here's a party in which there was no problem in alcohol consumption! Was great to see neighborhood reaction in seeing such crazy characters walking outside and disappearing into the "secret entrance" that was my decorated garage. I had so many other character possibilities, just take a super-hero and you can easily create a farce on it (probably what Epic Movie partially tried). Here's the link.

The first one of these - again held in Wichita. It was in a pricey location (mistake #1) and held in a large yellowish/green Egyptian room. Burt worked hard to bring in a wet bar at the last minute which was wonderful, but only two used it (mistake #2) - so Arthur who worked the bar didn't make any $ that night. I've discovered that alcohol can be hit or miss depending on the crowd and location and "intensity" of the story/role-playing. Link is here.

Anyone around that attended this one in Wichita in the apartment building I lived in then (Eaton Place)? Being in Wichita, had actual cold and snow to make it seem very realistic that we were snowed in and since there was the old Union Station nearby and the building used to be a hotel, it felt very authentic. Here's the link.

Again, wanted a place for comments. Especially from those who put this on in other parts of the world! Any other names that use the Clue/color theme? Here's the link to this party.

Thought it would be appropriate to have a place for comments on each of these parties. Would be especially cool if folks who attended (7 yrs ago!) wanted to add comments and pics that I didn't have. Also, has anyone tried to do anything like this one? Here's a link to the page on it.

Ok, one thing of note while living in Omaha for a week - it's cold! I guess I need to get more of the warm clothes out of the closet and get my hat fixed, but even with a garage it's an adventure to leave the warmth of home. But the snow can be fun to watch come down.

Even more entertaining is the alpha squirrel - go squirrel go! I did catch a rabbit nibbling on the pieces of corn the squirrel didn't eat in the dark of night. Also fun to see all of the animal prints in the snow - ah, I've missed this season!

The new year has come and gone, but with it came my first ever home! It's in a fabulous neighborhood (who can complain when my neighbors brought me flowers, food and threw me a welcome party within my first week?), close to work, and a wonderful space to live in and call home. Here are some pictures!

Living Room, Kitchen, Front, Entrance