So clearly I haven’t updated this site in a LONG time. I’ve been using Facebook to do the more A.D.D. updates - shorter and more often. Still, if you’re reading this, thanks for the subscription! I’m not promising much more this year, though I will be updating the mystery parties soon out of necessity. As for what happened in 2011 - lots! See the pics for a bit of a summary: lots of trips, meetings, lost TB to kidney failure & Uncle Rob to a car accident, good times with friends and family. All in all, a tough and memorable year. Time continues to fly...

Tags: Facebook

Due to unusual & unforeseen noises coming from my phone early this morning and new rain storms, one of my dreams was captured with much greater detail. I should add that I’ve been using Sleep Cycle to not only record my REM/deep-sleep cycles, but to help ensure I’d wake up in a rested state.

I had joined a couple UNMC professors to work out at this large, unfamiliar building (it reminded me of a modern take on the unwieldy Palestra/Z-building at the U of Rochester). It was easy to get lost in side, but this time the placed was packed with people there for a stamp/coin show. I was amazed at how popular it was. There were people of all genders and ages (actually more women than men). As I walked around, I noticed that everyone was going from looking with wonder at the various collections/stores/trades, to being very social.

Several asked me if I’d like to play a round of “Shazbot”. (OK, I don’t actually remember the name of it, but it was one word and everyone there seemed to know what it was.) Here’s what I deduced about this game: all attendees were encouraged to make a short collection of pictures taken from stamps or coins. Each picture would be on an individual sheet that the “player” would look at and then try to provide information as to the significance of the picture. This could include just facts like who/what/where it is, to the impact it had on society, hence the reason for it being made timeless into a stamp/coin. On the back contained lots of information about the picture so the “tester” could use this to educate the player in case they had no idea. The tester would then check a box on how well they thought the player did, and the player would check a box ranking the picture. This would go back and forth for about 2-5 pictures each.

How strange. But then I realized, how wonderful! One of the reasons there was so many people there was that this was supported by the local schools and the history channel as well as national coin/stamp organizations. It got kids to get involved and to learn from these stamps/coins as well as interact and learn from the adults who may have had stories related to the stamp/coin pictures they showed in the game.

I played once and there was a picture that looked like an old editorial cartoon with someone who looked like FDR with a few others that I didn’t recognize. I was told they were some various cabinet members that were responsible for some of the New Deal. Another was a picture of what I thought was an old Ford, but was some European car from the 20s that I had never heard of (they also made trains). The point being, I was learning a bit about history from a social setting.

As I thought about this dream this morning, I was wondering how this game was really a game. Well, I guess at some point during the show that they would put all of the rankings/scores together and put together a diverse collection of the easiest/hardest/best/worst/etc to show at the end. These people could get small award stickers to put on the side of their pictures.

Anyhew, off to work, but am curious if you think this is something the schools & other orgs could get excited about? Ever been to a stamp/coin show? It’s been many years for me, but I recall it being mostly men and sometimes boys with their fathers and mostly quiet browsing.

And what is it in us (and in me) that drives us to collect? To possess? We’d have much more money to put into great causes if we didn’t have this drive, though it would discourage others from creating these imaginative items and art that we like to collect.... *sigh*

Tags: Dreams

There is some guilt associated with not posting here regularly, especially with me posting so many pictures. Well, this is to coincide with uploading 106 pictures from Rome where I spent a week at the annual EULAR meeting. I had a wonderful time, though I was overwhelmed and impressed with the Vatican (especially St Peter’s Basilica) and the Pantheon. Rome was beautiful. I walked the streets all over and everywhere I went I was surrounded by ancient sites and historic buildings. Fashion is clearly king as all around the non-tourist areas I found custom designer clothing stores, as well as gelato shops and, of course, various Italian food restaurants everywhere. The latter wouldn’t have been bad if there were at least a bit of variety (give me a little Thai or Chinese to help cleanse my palette of mozzarella, tomato and basil ). I know, there’s a lot more to Italian food than that, but clearly I’m a picky foody. (it didn’t stop me from having Italian in Omaha 3 days after my return)

We had our normal string of heavy thunderstorms in throughout June. Most of the cats’ room in the basement had water on the floor. Absolutely amazing storms, but losing electricity multiple times does change your opinion on them. It also made me value using my cell phone for my Internet & alarm.

I’m using Google Buzz to share my links these days as well as Facebook for the regular short updates. Please look to those places for more regular links, but I’ll do my best to put up some of the best links here. I have this space for a reason, right?!

The holiday weekend is upon me, as the street is full of cars parked for an event hours away. The college world series is over. USA is out of the World Cup & Ghana just lost in the most heart-breaking game of all. I’ve weeded my yard twice already as the long winter has meant everything is growing twice as tall as normal (and twice as beautiful, flowers everywhere!). The rubber tree I made a last-ditch effort to keep alive is now thriving outside (as my dark office and the threat of the cats make my home inhospitable to any other living things - even bugs, which is a fair trade).

I hope you like the new purple style. The previous one kept on cutting off some of my links on the right. Now I’ll have to come up with something to replace it (so this may be temporary).

Thanks for your patience!

Tonight marks the end of a memorable 40 days. Starting with Grandma Michaud’s death and funeral (see previous post), to then spending several days in Marin County, CA as part of the Inner Journey Seminar. It was a great space and was wonderful at getting more in touch with myself (emotionally, physically, & spiritually) at the same time others were doing the same. Then the family gathered over Easter - Dad has been spending several weekends up in NE helping Grandpa out. Then had an all-day conference in KC, then a week back at Stanford, CA, and then back at work. This past week we had our annual RAIN conference here in Omaha, followed by my Grandmother’s 80th birthday party that was a bit of a family reunion. Of course I’m leaving out lots of details, amazing food and other events, but that helps explain why I haven’t been home much and exhausted.

I’ve added many new pics - mostly me with other great people that I haven’t seen in too long. Seems so many of “my generation” are having kids, and it’s harder to catch up in person... I can’t wait to have that problem. No one is standing still, nor would I expect them to, and it’s fun to catch up with those that have touched me years ago and still see their impact on me.

Was quite the contrast being with so many family members last month for Grandma’s funeral to this weekend with to celebrate my other’s birthday. Grandma Belknap (maternal) hasn’t recovered from Grandma Michaud’s death... but she continues to live so fully! My maternal/paternal sides have many clear contrasts (primarily in behavior), but both value family and have much love to offer/express, albeit in different ways. I suspect that my parents both having four younger brothers provide a lot of the similarities... I feel very fortunate!

I’m also exhausted and still have laundry to finish. OK, how about some random comments?

#1) I drove home late last night from Lincoln. I spent ~30 mins driving ~70 mph on the interstate and counted 161 tractor trailers (semis) driving the other way. Good thing they’re expanding to 3 lanes, but I was surprised to see so many! Aunt Karla thought it was a good sign of the economy picking up. I suspect it’s a combination of many things and is likely not a bad indicator compared to so many others out there. Economist magazine, I’m ready to be cited anytime.

#2) I got an iPad. While I’m not an Apple fanatic, I’m likely in the fan-boy category. I try to keep on top of most things tech since the 80s, and I’ve been very happy with my switch to Macs 4 years ago when they went to Intel CPUs (though I still work with a few XP machines so I don’t get rusty). So why get an iPad, which is just an oversized iPod touch and I already have an iPhone? Well, I’m all about creating spaces. I have two spaces in my house for entertainment - the living room and home theater. That’s where I watch movies, tv, sports, and play games, etc. The problem is that I watch TV very rarely. I’ve reduced movie watching to my weekly movie nights, and my xbox playing is limited to ~1-2 hours a week. Yes, between work, travel and organized events, I’m left with ~6.5 hours sleep. I’ve noticed that I spend a lot of time reading blogs, checking out Facebook, and even watching Netflix on my computer. This is clearly a breach of protocol in having my office computers be for work only... enter the iPad. This is for play and can take my computer play away from my office and bring it back to the entertainment spaces as well as travel. It won’t replace my notebook computers as I need their power to run my full suite of statistical and publishing/presenting software. Anyhew, it’s an amazing (unsure about magical) machine. They’ll have a better one next year, but I’m very happy with the first version now!

#3) What happened to spring? I mentioned the brutal, but full of snow (yay!) winter we had. Now my flowers are blooming, trees/plants/weeds everywhere have sprung up and I have no need for jacket since April started. I shouldn’t complain, especially since today was nice and cool at 55F, but it’s great to have the full range of weather again. Just hope it’s not a sign of having a hot summer especially since the last few have been so mild. Still, love the changes no matter how much they remind me of time flying by!

#4) Anyone know of a good Tai Chi Gong teacher/class in the Omaha area? Anyone use the UNO swimmingpool? Two things I’m hoping to be experienced with myself during May. After passing out after a run in CA last month, I’ve learned that my sense of reality can be different from what my body’s is and I’m hoping to take care of it physically, as well as keep up the good nutrition.

#5) I started Fallout 3 on xbox this weekend. I’m hoping to get more than an hour a week for it (yes, I know I’m ~ 2 years behind, nothing new!). So far I love the beginning, nothing like learning to walk again as a 1-year old! Also, very impressed with Dungeon Lords board game. Very challenging & entertaining!

Links to come later this week!

I went to bed "early" last night since I had to get up early for an all-day conference on writing. It was 1am when the radio and alarm was set and I konked out.

I awoke at 6am to nature's call, went back to bed and couldn't fall back asleep. Lots of items in my mind, couldn't fully relax. I heard sounds from my house - whether from the furnace, cats prepping themselves for a surprise early wake-up from Kaleb, or the house creaking from thoughts of winter being over.  Later I was startled by the sounds again and the thought of it being Grandma's spirit coming by kept my imagination going. I imagined her being there and felt at peace though I didn't believe she was dead as I was going to see her later that day after work. I had made plans to go the next day, but after warnings from my uncle, I was going to leave right after the conference ended at 3:30pm.  After dwelling on thoughts of her impending funeral, being with my family, and grandpa, I faded a bit for a while and then awoke for my 7am alarm.

I made it to the conference on time with my head somewhat cloudy but I was excited about gaining skills to improve my writing (or lack of it). After an hour or so I noticed a couple messages on my phone from my mother. I had no signal in the classroom, but I did have Internet access. A few minutes later I got the email from my mother stating that Grandma died in her sleep this morning. I won't be visiting her after work today after all...

I have only begun to grieve for Grandma Michaud. She was always Grandma to me, but Mom, Dorothy and Dot to others. Very strong-willed, outspoken, yet kind, loving and fun. I last saw her 2 weeks ago as I went a week after her birthday to check in with her. She was very tired. She fell asleep at the dining table twice while I was there. Her face had mostly healed from the large “raccoon” bruise from the holidays, but everything was clearly much more difficult to do.

I had sent a long email to her that she had never received and ended up covering the main parts of it with her in person. I first asked how her 5 boys came out so similar and so different. She paused and just shrugged; then she said “I just let them do what they wanted to do”, referring to their life choices after high school, I inferred. Then I thanked her for doing and being so much in my life. As I wrote in my email:

“The other thing I was thinking about was how great of a job you both did in raising your boys and in being such a wonderful influence on them and us (your grandkids). I know I wrote about my memories living with you for your 50th anniversary - but I truly value that time and feel fortunate to have been able to stay a summer there - and lots of previous times when I was younger and more recently during our brief visits after going to college.  I love the fact that you drove me to Rochester for my sophomore year (your cantaloupe was responsible for my best friend, Josh, to meet his wife!) and came up again for my final graduation! And your help for me to go to Israel, all greatly appreciated!  Sorry if I'm sounding sentimental, but I was just so amazed at how fast time has gone by (reflecting on your birthday, Grandma), and how important you & my parents have been along the way.  This is clearly something I'd rather share with you in person this past weekend, but wanted to let you know either way. So, again, Thank You! ”

That night she started to cry as I gave her a hug goodbye. She said “don’t forget me” and we both were in tears... Oh Grandma, how can I ever forget you? You’re one-fourth of me and will live on through me (and others!). You’ve been the foundation for the Michaud family and I can’t imagine it without you. I miss you so, but glad you’re at peace after such a wonderful, full and challenging life.

Your proud and ever-loving grandson

OK, I realized I never finished posting my report from Rochester. So much has been happening! Never a dull moment.

Memorial weekend George, Jennifer & Rachel (yes, the gang from Rochacha) decided to make a last-minute trip to visit Omaha. Lots to rearrange, but had a blast. Being a tourist in my own town - walked the new pedestrian bridge on a perfect afternoon. Walked the zoo with many memorable moments including the giraffe’s tongue obsession (pic), the orangutan’s begging, the massive koi feeding, the butterflies, alligators & nutria, and the giant evil wild rabbit (something that I had repressed for decades straight out of the Twilight Zone movie). We feasted on local BBQ & watched a movie at home. On Sunday we visited the local rabbit show in Seward that my sister was judging, met up with the grandparents & rest of the family, and then attended Wicked (pic). Even though we couldn’t get tickets all together, it was an amazing show! The wonderful trio left very early on Monday morning to make their 20 hour drive back to Rochester in time to get rest for work on Tuesday - crazy wonderful!

So, with only a few hours of sleep myself, I hosted my family and the extended maternal fam at my house all day. I had 15 people over, TONS of great food, and hours of fun playing badminton and Rock Band. A perfect day/weekend!

The next day (Tues) my good HS friend, Clint, showed up to stay/visit with me for a couple days. He’s keeping very busy and currently runs his own e-reader store, cyberread.com, among other projects. We caught up each evening and played lots of evenly-matched table tennis.

By Thursday I was off to Washington, DC, to attend Inner Journey “retreat” weekend in the hills of VA. What an incredible and enlightening experience! Three days of exploring our masculine & feminine sides, pushing our bodies, opening up to fully experience the world around us. I made some wonderful new friends (though sadly, they’re all in the DC area) that I plan to be in touch with for years to come. I also got to see Prea before she flew off to Bangladesh. I highly recommend this program - they have seminars in San Francisco, Chicago & DC throughout the year.

Couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the month. Never a dull moment! (some things are worth repeating)

Oh, what a weekend!

Notice that I’ve added a lot of new pictures from this month. I took a short vacation weekend to visit Rochester, NY - primarily to see George & Jenn, but their families and many other friends I haven’t seen in many years. Little did I know that this was UR graduation weekend, so many people were very busy with these events at UR or left town to get away from it all.

Friday afternoon I arrived at the university to visit with Berthenia at the computer library (used to be called CLARC) - she fed me lunch to my complete satisfaction. I then caught up with Laura B. at Wilson Commons (she’s very pregnant). Got a whole hour chatting with VP Paul Burgett (pic) - which I still find amazing since he was packed with graduation events to attend and speak at. Briefly saw the chair of physics, Professor Nick B., and A/V head, Matt Felthousen. While everything looked great, it did feel weird knowing so few of the folks on campus. Probably only recognized 4-5 others during my 3 hour tour.

George picked me up and we went and visited with Anne-Marie Algier (pic) at her 10-year old’s baseball game. We also got our Buffalo wing quota over at the Distillery. We played xbox & several boards games over the weekend. Amusing that I need to take a vacation to be able to do such things! On Saturday I visited the Lilac Festival with Jennifer, Sean & the three kids (11, 5 & 2 yrs old). Lots to see, plenty warm, and I became the cotton candy dispenser on the walk home. Aiden (5 yr-old) commented: “I think you’ve given Faith (2 yr-old) enough cotton candy. No more for her!”. Jennifer & I went to Wegmans (which continues to impress me) where I stocked up on food/drinks for a party at a lodge next to a pond in Webster, NY that I rented for the evening. Several came out to visit in person (pics) - we played a couple games and mostly just ate & caught up. Good times!

Sunday was more of the same - mostly playing games with George, but caught dinner with Jennifer and the three of us bonded (pics). So good that George got to meet several of my Rochester friends. I like being “the connector” (Doug’s term for me). George & I wrapped up the weekend with an introductory game of Agricola (pic) - what a wonderful game! I also made a couple new friends in the Rochester area as well - always room to know more good people! I’m very glad I made the trip. Will have to plan one again for next year!

Tonight, with the help of 6 other great friends, we played all 84 songs in Rock Band 2’s Endless Setlist going non-stop getting 5-stars on each song (medium difficulty) without any pauses (~6.5 hours). It’s an arduous task as there were several times the mic wasn’t working, or we feared a cord being unplugged, or when the xbox started to freeze or even two songs where we got the 5th star on the last notes we played together. Crazy! THe last couple hours were the toughest as the songs were harder and, for the most part, not fun to sing along to (lots of speed metal), but we persevered. Thanks to Sarah (drummer extraordinaire), Ben (string guru), Troy (Mr Bass Man), Eric (it’s OK, I can sing it), Vickie (How does this song go?), and Merinda (arrived for the last hour to sing this crap?). Pictures added shortly (we filmed it at various times for posterity).

Yesterday I hosted a game night and put up my new badminton set in the back (after spending the day trimming the trees to make room for it all). It’s a perfect, though tight, fit and we played into the night using glowing birdies - fun! Had another great turnout - ~14 for games. Mandi also stopped by earlier in the week for a game night in her honor with a high of 13 for a Wed night and folks staying until near 1am after tons of good food and fellowship. I truly feel lucky to have such great friends!

Also related to the bladder, last weekend Lizzy & I drove to Wichita on Saturday, visited with high school friends (Clint!), caught up with Fred, and had dinner with my mother & Grandmother, then drove to Dallas to see the King Tut exhibit, stayed with Bavana (the perfect hostess) and drove back to Omaha straight on Monday arriving 10 hours later just in time to play 90mins of ultimate frisbee. Lizzy tried to hold out ~2.5 hours between potty breaks (she hardly drank anything to help). We also enjoyed some Braums twice that weekend - joy!

Weekly movie nights continue to go well. It’s hard to spend much time in the dark basement though with it being so nice and light late into the evening.

Arthur has been more of a pain than usual this past month or so. I’m changing meds after 10 years - a bit anxious about it all. In another not so positive observation, I’m reminded again at how small Omaha still is. Still very single after my 2 years here.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom & Grandmas!

It’s been a full weekend! Actually, the main thing that separates this weekend from the others is that I’ve made a bit of time to write a note about it here! Don’t ever let me complain about not keeping myself occupied - always something new even if the actions or the way of experiencing it isn’t.

During lunch on Saturday I bit my tongue by accident surprisingly hard. I was embarrassed by it and didn’t say anything and soon forgot about it (though I wasn’t about to do it again!). Later in the day I noticed how my mouth was hurting and how it was painful to swallow anything. I didn’t investigate, but got ice cream (it was a great spring day) and all was better. Looked in the mirror and found that I had removed a small strip of the side of my tongue! It was swollen and had the teeth marks from where I punctured it. No wonder it hurt! Dinner was ridiculous, so I found ice cream again (root beer float) as well as some sake to burn/heal the wound.

Watched Sunshine in the home theater. Apparently it’s listed as one of the most beautiful movies in the last 10 years (see links) - directed by Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle. While I expected a space sci-fi R-movie to have lots of people killed by some alien/computer, I was delightfully surprised with this one - yes, people still got killed. My only complaint was that it should have created more of a sense of what was truly at stake back on Earth, but that would have required a bigger effects budget, I suppose.

Later on Saturday I went to Omaha’s The Maxx, a gay dance club. A decent size one that was packed with techno/house dance floor and an R&B floor. I was surprised that such a place existed as I’d been missing the many places to dance back in SF. And, yes, I still have the moves... though am also still out of shape!

Back on track with the sun exposure, spend most of today pruning outdoor plants, cleaning and being domestic as it’s the first spring weekend that I’ve actually been home - what a treat! Tonight was movie night - showed Immortal Beloved. Nice to experience in the home theater.

TB & QBert continue to lose weight - they’re looking very good and are much more active now. The diet of 6 months really has made a difference! Now it’s a matter of letting all of the extra skin (& fur!) come back.

I’ve been keeping a daily update on Facebook this year - wish I could export them all as they do a good summary of what I’ve been up to. The daily twitter of sorts. I wrapped up an NIH challenge grant this week - it’s competitive, but no clue if that means it’ll get funded. It’s such a crapshoot it seems.

Thanks for reading - and nice to be able to write! Keep smiling!

I finally got around to putting up pictures from my trip to Dubai last month. I gave four original talks in four days with the invitation of my friends and colleagues, Humeira & Cathy, in Dubai. What a trip!

I arrived at 7pm on Monday night and had dinner on the beach just outside Burj Al Arab (the “7-star” hotel that’s the 2nd tallest in the world, on it’s own island, and looks like sails). Gorgeous colors light it up at night. You can still make out the helicopter landing pods near the top, too.

Day 2 Humeira took Claire & I to see the inside of the Burj Al Arab (you need special pass to go there). Truly gorgeous! Then we went to the Atlantis resort, had lunch, talks for the Emirates Arthritis Foundation and I gave talk#1 about the cost-effectiveness of RA drugs to patients, insurance providers, and a few doctors. That evening a small group of us went to a restaurant/resort out in the desert where we ate well and I did some dancing with the belly dancer and went up on stage with Claire for more public embarrassment/entertainment. I also rode a camel... in my jacket and tie!

Day 3 the conference, Arab Health: Rheumatology, got into full swing. I was taken to the local market - so much amazing fresh produce and seafood! Did some shopping at the souks. Still have a bit to learn about haggling. Saw a local art exhibit, attended several talks and went back to Atlantis where I gave talk #2 on safety of biological drugs and had a late dinner/bbq outside overlooking the palm and part of the southwestern city skyline.

I’ve skipped over a few important details. First, Atlantis. This $1.5 billion resort just opened in Sept at the top of The Palm Jumeirah, these large chain of islands in the shape of a palm. See Google Maps/Earth for more details - it’s amazing! I took pictures inside the vehicle with GPS to prove where I was on the palm. Second, there are cranes and construction all throughout Dubai! Over 50% of the world’s cranes are there and I can believe it! Skyscraper after skyscraper filled my views. My hotel, the Dusit Thani, a Thai hotel in the shape of bowing palms (hands), is along a line of skyscrapers that are next to the Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building at 170 stories! It truly dwarfs everything within sight. Below it is the world’s largest mall. And you can see the construction of a metro rail line along the 16 lane highway outside my hotel window. All of the city is within a few miles of the coast - the desert is all too present. The temperature was in the 80s most days until the final weekend when it was near 100 and we had a wind/dust storm. Bus stops are air conditioned. This is the nicer season - the summer is much more unbearable. But since it was dry, seemed more tolerable.

Day 4. By now I’ve had serious jet lag, unable to sleep well and every day was tough to function, but the thrill of so much new kept me going. Another full day at the conference where I gave talk#3 on quality of life, work disability and non-clinical outcomes in RA. That night I went to a special art exhibit (Kids from around the world) and “hobnobbed” with the locals (which were almost all ex-pats). Then I had dinner with many of the rheumatologists from the region at Raffles, a well-known British hotel/casino brand with a pyramid hotel.

Day 5. Friday is the beginning of the weekend, but many docs still showed up for my 9am talk#4 on how to create a rheumatic disease database. It went well over an hour, but that was good as the next speaker didn’t show. That afternoon I went on a desert safari with Humeira, the guest statistician, Kok, & wife from Singapore, . I thought this would entail a simple drive through the desert to see the few animals and sights... I was so wrong. This was a 2.5 hour rollercoaster of a drive through the tremendous dunes! Our driver/caravan was crazy! Yet, so much fun! If I didn’t get car sick, I would want to go again (as it is, I’d like to make such a drive myself). Sliding down giant dunes, going sideways, getting stuck, near collisions with other trucks (all with roll bars) - great fun! The ride ended with dinner and more belly dancing out in the desert (yay!). I held back on dancing this time, though I befriended a newly-wed couple from Pakistan.

Day 6. This was a full day trip to Oman - the tip of the Arabia peninsula at the Straight of Hormuz. It’s a near-uninhabitable collection of giant rocks with a bit of a bay inside that we toured on a dhow. I swam in the water - I was the first one in and the last one out both times we stopped. There was red tide that we avoided, the fish that I avoided, the dolphins we couldn’t get enough of, and the reef sharks we smiled at (and avoided). Considering I have a fear of heights and sharks/water, I was definitely enjoying the thrills! The drive was long - 4 hours there, but the driver was different on the way back and drove our bus like a madman, making it in 3 hours! In time for a home-made meal among friends/family.

Day 7. Cathy & I went shopping at one of the big three malls - the one with the indoor ski slopes. Very impressive place, though it could have just as easily been a fancy mail in another big city. I did pick up a new large luggage bag to replace the current one with broken handle. Picked up some postcards, got a Chinese massage, and then one last dinner in an amazing looking skyscraper (I forget the name, but part of twin towers) with a new local friend. The flight back to DC was 15 hours long (12 hours to get there).

In summary, was wonderful to spend time with great friends, make new ones and future work colleagues, to see such futuristic architecture/engineering marvels, and to learn so much of the native and local cultures (not just the capitalistic side). I’ve said I could live in Singapore, and now I feel that Dubai is livable as well - much yet to be done there, but was great to see a piece of it during the boom (and bust).

that is the question...

Some of you know I pre-ordered a little smartcar fortwo convertible (same color/model as in the picture) almost 16 months ago. Remember then? When we hated the current president for only botching up our reputation, the wars, outing V. Plame and for just being incompetent, etc, etc - not like now when we get to add the financial crisis of the century to the list (I know... it’s been a short century, and only a few more hours of W). So, back then I thought it was a smart idea to pre-order this hot cake as I knew they’d go fast just like the mini coopers did earlier and with the insane gas prices, seemed like a sure deal to either buy for myself (wee! fun tiny convertible!) or to just resell for a profit to a new Husker college student (it’s red with black trim on the outside and inside - perfect for campus attention and tailgating - leaves so much room to actually sit down in the same parking spot!). But, alas, the car arrived a few days ago. Have I mentioned that it’s been -8F? Today was much warmer at 34F, but the wind picked up tonight and was still not fun to be outside.

So I drove this tiny cutie around in the wind, on the interstate, and around the neighborhood. It’s an automatic manual transmission -> so it does the bunny hop when shifting gears as it’s really a manual. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I changed the gears myself instead of moving my head into the steering wheel at semi-random times. Still.. would be a lot of fun to have, especially once the nice weather returns.

But I’ve decided it doesn’t make any sense now. No place to keep it. No sun to enjoy it with. Rear-wheel drive and tiny size makes for crazy ice/snow driving. And less money for students to buy it with for any profit. Ah... so sad, there goes that dream... but for 30 minutes tonight, it was a fun ride!

Just heard this on NPR tonight. Wow, Dr. Steven Chu has had quite the career! He was one of the two reasons I went to Stanford for my phd. The year I arrived and planned to rotate with him, he won the Nobel prize and really seemed overly busy for a student like me that liked attention. After winning the nobel prize, he met with the president of China (an engineer), who I imagine tried to recruit him to help with science education in China. He also went to my alma mater for undergrad (University of Rochester). After enough of us complained about not having enough preparation for the qualifying exams at Stanford, he taught for a couple of years a “Back of the Envelope Physics” class, which I still have the notes for. I was on the Stanford presidential search committee in 1999/2000 and Professor Chu was on the previous search committee (along with Condi Rice), and he gave me good advice for that adventure. I eventually did my research in biophysics with Steven Boxer, and Professor Chu was my co-advisor in the physics department. When I returned to finish my PhD, he had already “moved on” to direct the National Livermore Labs. He was a very demanding professor and the students in his lab rarely did anything other than work, but if they persevered, they did very well wherever they went. There’s more, but will hold back. Very happy for him and hope he makes us proud!

Here’s his bio from the Nobel committee and the NPR article.

I’m so very far behind that I thought I’d catch up with the most recent activities and slowly go backwards from there. I’ve posted a lot of new pictures from my many trips, though, already.

Starting off with December. To celebrate the anniversary of my house being broken into, I once again drove down to Kansas to work in Wichita for a few days at the NDB’s office. Played some new games with the family, got lots of work done with daily meetings, teeth cleaned, annual Ada massage, dinner with Fred & Donna, saw William (visiting from Hawaii and a day before he shot a nail through his hand), ate some Gambino’s pizza & Braums’ limeade, and made the 350 mile drive to Mount Hope from Omaha in record time (4.25 hours, nonstop). Needless to say, a full 3 days. After I drove back, I was quickly off to San Francisco again for an ACR meeting. Got to have a small game night on Friday at Terry’s place (great to see Mandi, Doug, Melissa, Emily, Stacie & Mike), gorged myself on excellent dim sum on Saturday, then had meetings the rest of the time at the SF Wharf though with a brief break to take the trolly across the city and watch a late showing of Quantum of Solace (good, but not great as was previous Bond flick). Lots of stories from this past weekend, but maybe most memorable was at the airport. I thought my flight was at 12:30pm and I arrived at 11:45am (no bags to check), only to discover the flight was at 12:03 (have I mentioned that I’m bad at remembering numbers?). I arrived at gate to find no one staffing the area. The plane was still docked and I waved and jumped up and down to get the pilots’ attention to no avail. The computer said they were missing only 1 passenger (me!). The door to the plane had lots of warnings about alarms going off if I tried to enter. 6 minutes later when the plane started to leave I decided to set the alarms off and return to waving - this time the pilots saw me, pointed and got them to re-dock so I could get on board. Not a fun experience and likely bad due to short staffing the area, but fortunate to make it!

Oh, and I beat Jade Empire on my one night in NE between those trips (it’s only an xbox game that’s 4 years old!). It was very impressive, but a sign that time hasn’t been on my side for some time. Stay tuned for much more!!!

While going briefly through the drive through yesterday for lunch (and with my new student programmer in tow), the lady took my money and said “Wow,haven’t seen you in a while!” (which caused an embarrassed look on my face and a laugh by my student). I have mixed feelings about this. 1) I had not been there in several weeks since I’ve been out of town. 2) Does it mean that I had been there that often before I left or am I just that memorable? (Do I have an addiction to Southern Style Chicken sandwiches since there is no Chik-fi-lay in town?)
Prea would always laugh and sigh as she said I was the one major outlier for her research that showed the more educated one was, the less likely they were to eat fast food. If I had good company and less work, I’m sure I would be better about such things, even bring my own lunch, but I’m far from that for now. *sigh*

These 3 weeks of conferences had food accessible to me all the time. I feel like I’ve gained weight and so now am a bit more self-conscious of what I’m eating (likely a good thing). Starting on Monday, DDR every day!

Now to get rid of these 5 pounds of leftover Halloween candy... maybe I can slip them into Troy & Merinda’s silverware drawer like they so discretely did to mine... Nice to write a more random blog entry! (and it’s cold and windy)

Just a little note to let you know that I’m still here, but have been gone for 3 weeks to 3 conferences. LOTS to report about, but planning mischief for this weekend’s adventure in the jungle.

Nice to feel good during the night of and after an election. Also “nice” to be free of predicting the correct winner of the presidency 2 years in advance (on Thanksgiving day) since 1982. Yes, I picked McCain 2 years ago and, not that he was my choice, just was my gut pick. He likely had it had he groomed Palin better (or picked Lieberman instead) and not looked silly during the economic crisis. I’m not complaining, though.

Oh, and they just released a Portal expansion entitled “Still Alive” - can’t play until next week when I post all the real news and pics that you’ve been dying to read!

Oh, and just for the record, I LOVE the amazing weather we’ve had with the gorgeous colorful leaves. It’s been tremendous and now, starting tonight, the cold of late fall/winter is upon us. It was a great way to spend the first days of November!

It’s been 3+ weeks since our last visit and much has happened (which seems correlated as we look at the past evidence). Shall we take a trip?

Halloween time
Last night I celebrated my friend, Angela’s, birthday at the local Vala’s pumpkin patch. Was so much fun feeding goats (see pics for “2-headed” goat), haunted house, running through the corn-field maze, wandering a pumpkin field and riding/singing on a hay-rack ride. Regressed 20 years, easily. In the maze, which was huge!, I had a habit of running ahead, hiding around corners and surprising the group. One time I ran ahead without my partner in crime, Merinda, and found the perfect hiding spot. But the group wasn’t coming by. Smaller groups did, and none of them saw me. Once a staff person was making the rounds with a bright flashlight, so I jumped out and acted innocent. Went back to hiding... more people passed, still no group. Then a kid run up the path and crawled backwards right in front of me. She wasn’t going to do the same thing as me. So I decided to scare the crap out of her, first. Boo! She about messed her pants, but she held it together so she could scare her kids (yes, apparently she was much older, just acted young... hmm, sounds familiar). She pointed to the husband at me, and he made the comment, “yeah, that looks like a good place to hide” as he didn’t even see me as I was further in the corn. Then when she pointed me out again, the whole group started to freak out. Still, I waited... after 15 minutes I gave up. I ran through the rest of the maze and found the group waiting for me on a bench. Apparently they went backwards and back the way we came in! Ugh! My perfect plan failed. Still, so much silliness and fun!

Hosted several more game & movie nights, played some new rock band 2 (new drums rock!), and have gotten my share of football games watched (could the Chiefs be any worse?). Finished the final pieces of my basement rec room (last curtains, pictures), too, so soon there will be a post of what I actually did on it.

I taught two 3-hour lectures on health outcomes (focused on physical measures and quality of life) in this new graduate-level public health class. It has been so long since I taught! And I really enjoyed it! (no real surprise) May have to revisit this thing again in the future...

There will be tree...
Apparently my tree, that was split down the middle, will go on to live several more years. It will cost me $1100 to have it completely removed or $300 to have it trimmed nicely. The arborist said that it won’t look good and I’ll have to watch for beetles/infections, but it should last a while. I was so happy as the leaves have come back in deep green and the inside of it has started to grey as if trying to grow new bark (or it’s just dirty).

Trip to Sweden
I took my first official vacation trip in Sept to Stockholm. I spent a week visiting a new friend, Marie, making new ones, and catching up with old ones, too. It didn’t all go the way I had hoped (it was cold!), but I made the most of seeing the many sights (see picture section). Notably, watched Marie’s brother play in the championship American Football game. His team only had 16 players including a girl (see pics), while the other team had 40+. What impressed me was that they were winning until the 2nd half when they were just worn out (he played both offense & defensive lineman - EVERY play!). Though they lost, her brother won MVP - for only age 19, he’s very impressive. I had fun watching, cheering and explaining to worried mothers around me what was happening. Was hard when one son got injured - his mom ran to the end of the of the stadium to help, but resisted when he started limping off the field. New perspective for me. Went to many museums, areas of note, got familiar with the subway system, ate way too much high-fat butter & yogurt, lots of breads, and got a supply of Coke Zero going (again, fairly popular there, too). Took lots of pictures of the great scientific designs on one of the subway stops, and other pictures of random dogs, babies and other notable signs. Note, it’s hard to get pictures of people’s babies! Why was I doing this? Well, a friend in Omaha challenged me with this task - I got a lot, but I’m sure some thought about calling me out. I was very smooth - like a secret agent.

Rant about age
While in Stockholm I befriended an attractive stranger (Natasha) on my way to the National Swedish Museum. Even though she was from Moscow and had a thick accent, we hit it off well. Near the end she asked me how old I was - apparently she thought I was 27 (not so uncommon with my baby face, it seems). The issue was, I thought she was near 30 (I said 26), but she was actually 21. Not like I was looking to date, but apparently that wigged her out and put an end to our plans to meet up again. OH well. Back in the US I asked a 24-yr old PhD student out, and while she was flattered, she said I was too old (again, fair enough as 24 is my lower limit on the “creepiness” scale). The same day, I’m buying a bunch of liquor and at this point I’m chanting in my head “You better not ask, you better not ask...” - the guy, of course, asks to see my ID. I grunt. Get it out and ask how old I had to look for him to ask. He said “27 or younger”. Crap! OK, so while many people think it’s a blessing to look young (and I agree), it has not been kind to me in the social arena!

For something cute, be sure to see the latest TB picture in the cat section. I have more trips coming again soon, but that’s it for the year. Plus I’ve been working on the new murder mystery party - a jungle themed event!
Until the next time...

September hit and it got cold. Dismal and cloudy, lots of moody rain (not much thunder) and everyone was in disbelief since it was so hot or at least sunny just before. Guess even though the calendar says fall starts next week, it came with the football season instead. (and it was easy to get down with the gloomy weather)
Football! So after Nebraska’s horrible last season, they’re no longer automatically on local TV, which means there’s a lot less to watch these football weekends. But NFL in HD on the big screen... it truly does rock! (even if my Chiefs truly do suck)

Dennis, one of my best friends in Omaha and the source of almost everyone else I’ve ever met here, has moved to Albuquerque, NM (the life of the military). Lizzy & I threw him a goodbye party last weekend where we played laser tag (and we all got to figure out how out of shape we are, though I did get the highest score in one match out of 10 of us!), and then grilled steaks and played Dennis’ favorite games throughout the night. It was a fun time and he will be sorely missed. (a nice group picture was added)

Tried swing dancing again this week - didn’t fall down or step on too many toes and had a good time, though it’s clear I have a lot to (re)learn. Hosted another game night that was more intimate and a lot of fun, cleaned the house up and down (the cats continue to shed like crazy), and continue to keep very busy with work.

The links show where my web-surfing mind has been (mostly on LHC and politics), but Neal Stephenson’s Anathem arrived the other day, so I’m off to finish up The Diamond Age so I can give it a try.

Oh, in even more uninteresting news, my car says one of my tire’s air pressure is low. I checked all 4 and their all the same (at 36 PSI), tried adding more (with no luck) and now am wondering if this is normal for that first cold day of Sept? Any car talk experts out there?

Go Chefs!

You’d think that I’d be used to being occupied, that I would stop stating that I’m busy, and just be used to the usual amount of lack of time (like everyone else over time?). In fact, it’s not that I’m complaining, it’s just that I have higher expectations of what I should accomplish which are often at odds with what actually occurs. I’m extremely happy with my life, though I do wish I could do more. Guess never being satisfied may keep me going?

Ok, enough existential thoughts - the Life of Kaleb updates!

July 28-Aug3
I started and finished a grant application (a new record, not something I am proud of, due Aug 1 at 3pm, submitted all 14 sections at 2:59pm, 2 minutes “better” than last year), hosted a Mummy movie marathon, and helped my summer student get her poster ready for display - an hour later, headed out to Lincoln to join the family gathering at the grandparents as Grandpa had a new brain implant to control the palsy in his other arm. Continuing that first weekend of August: parents, sis, Uncle Garry, Aunt Paula & Justine visited in a mini-reunion (since we couldn’t make it to our real reunion the following weekend). We played tourist downtown, lots of ping-pong, games, a little late-night badminton, cooking, and trying to survive the heat - lots of fun! That same weekend (Sunday afternoon), I flew out to California.

Aug 3-10 - in CA
Worked at Stanford for a week staying at Stacie & Mike’s (a month after being wed, and they still rock ), though enjoyed seeing friends/colleagues during most lunches and evenings (including a memorable game night at Doug, Melissa & Emily’s). Got a lift with new friends, Aaron & Masumi Fries, for the weekend up at Point Reyes for Yony & Amy’s wedding. So many great people were there, but the first night Cindy & I (we weren’t in the wedding party, so we had lots of free time), crashed another wedding dinner party at the local pizza parlor, and then played several games of Race For The Galaxy (RFTG - my current favorite “board game&rdquo. The next morning Cindy & I decided to take the 5 mile hike to Arch Rock and back to the lodge (it was 10am and the wedding started at 1:15pm). Our precarious start foreshadowed the hike as we first left the grounds and Cindy got stung by a small wasp or two (behind me I heard “Ow! Damn! Ow! Run, Kaleb, Run!” only 15 minutes after others warned teasingly to keep her in front of me at all times). A 15-minute delay by choosing the wrong path, and we were off in the right direction (which I knew because my iPhone got great reception once we were out in the hills/fields, as opposed to the small town we were in). At the halfway point (timewise), we were 0.9 miles away from Arch Rock - so we decided to run. Mind you, I’m not sure I’ve ever run so far, and especially in street shoes/jeans. We got there, enjoyed the 3 minute breathless view (see pics) and hurried back. Our new dilemma - the path goes right through the wedding ceremony and we weren’t going to make it in time (ie. we were about to be true wedding crashers). After deciding against committing a couple bike-jacking offenses, we convinced a trio of understandably nervous tourists from Michigan to give us a lift to the lodge (a different path). I did the 2 minute shower, changed (watching the ceremony process outside my window), and then changed again as my new shirt’s button popped off (first (and last?) purchase ever from Von Maur). Snuck in and enjoyed a marvelous ceremony, followed by lots of good food, fellowship, dances, bubbles, cake, more sun, and then relaxed with pizza, beer, billiards, and RFTG (~6 more games until 3am with 3 other PhD’s - 2 string theorists, 1 mathematician - all who were intent on “solving” the game. A great challenge amongst new friends!) The next day we did brief wine tasting, a mandatory In & Out stop, and I was back in Denver the next morning.

Aug 11-13 - in CO
I originally had a couple work meetings in Denver to take care of, but my 6am flight hung out on the runway at San Jose for some time before “The hydraulics aren’t working, we’re bringing it in for inspection”. I first wondered which part - the landing gear or flaps, and then decided that neither would be good to lose(!). 4 hours later, we were finally off, but so were my meetings. I stayed with my close childhood friend, Katie, and her three little ones: Archer (4), Sylvia (2), & Clark (9 mo’s). Randy, Kate’s hubby, was called out of town for work at the last minute, so I got to help with some parental duties. Oh my - going from 2 cats to 3 children was not a jump I was prepared for and I have renewed respect for Katie and so many of my other friends who are parents. Overall, since I was just helping, it was a lot of fun. Especially going to the library and swimming! After kids were asleep, Katie & I played some games (yes, including RFTG, of which she won on her first game, something none at the wedding can say). A slight brag-detour: 7+ years ago I had a streak of winning 30+ games of Settlers of Catan in a row among 40+ different people. Katie broke the streak over the holidays in 2001 which was a huge relief since I couldn’t talk about it until it was broke (as it’s easy to gang up on someone in it). I also saw fellow U Rochester classmate, Thuy, who also looks amazing despite a family of 5+ keeping her plenty busy!

Aug 14-17 - back in Omaha
My “aunt” died while I was in Denver. I had sent her some of the pictures of the basement that she helped me color-coordinate. That weekend her family held services in Kansas and in Seward, NE, a small town west of Lincoln. It was a gorgeous day, and it was so nice to see so many relatives (many of which had met a week earlier for the reunion I missed). You’d have to be a stone not to be moved by the words shared on Connie’s behalf. She had clearly touched so many and will not be forgotten. The for-fun themes about Connie were about her ability to create beauty and her love of Nebraska football, of which several spoke about. (Not to take anything away from the service, but it was hard not to escape how important football is here when it’s mentioned so much at a funeral. Definitely like its own religion and something so many of us can come together over, like so many others out there.) Since it was the last I’d see a lot of family for a while, some had surprised me with birthday cards/gifts. I enjoyed being with distant family and wanted there to be pictures/videos as everyone looked so good and after the service were in higher spirits as we remembered Connie and caught up. Guess it’s not good form - can’t remember the last time I saw a picture taken from any family funerals. Hard to still imagine how Shana, Connie’s daughter and one of my favorite cousins, is handling it all. But we keep on...

Aug 18-24 - birthday week
Prea made a visit for my birthday - her first trip to Omaha from DC. It was an overdue, but very welcomed surprise, even if only for 2 days. I took 1.5 days off of work (another strange thing for me) for her trip, and had fun shopping, cooking, and just catching up. The gang at work got me a carrot cake for the bday and a nice card, the game-night crew got me a brownie cake with a group-card, and my inbox and Facebook were filled with bday wishes - something that did overwhelm me with gratitude. So fortunate to have so many great people in my life! On Saturday Dennis & Lizzy (in honor of Lizzy’s bday back in July) led us on a 4 hour innertube ride down the Des Moines river (I still don’t know where we were, I was operating on 4 hours sleep). It was so relaxing and fun, though the only scare was when a river snake was headed right towards me (I was armed with a plastic squirt gun which I used to get me wet (more than others), as an oar, and here as a possible snake-whacking device. Smartly, it decided to avoid me. Apparently using loads of sun-block wasn’t enough as I ended up with a lobster-red sun burn over the entire front of my body. I did fall asleep briefly while floating downstream which brought memories of sleeping on a raft at Cheney lake when I was 10 and subsequently getting a 3rd degree sunburn which resulted in the white archipelago on my right leg. All 11 of us on the trip were completely spent. What I haven’t mentioned is that in honor of the bday, I had been hosting a few 80s-themed events in Aug (since I was born in the 70s). This same Sat night was the climax with an 80s party - dance music, decorations, lots of 80s foods (thought mostly bad-for-you snacks), big hair/outfits, trivia, arcade games all followed by a group viewing of The Breakfast Club. For the few that showed, they were true troopers. See the wonderful new picture section dedicated to them. Kudos to Dennis/Lizzy for their amazing outfits, for helping me decorate the night before and their unlimited energy.

Aug 25-31 - wrapping it all up
Keeping busy with per usual, showed Real Genius (surprised as to how well it has held up over the years) and hosting a game night this past week (with Jamaican jerk chicken and beef patties). Working on possible settings for the murder mystery party this fall (the zoo, most likely). Hosting another Fantasy Football league (we draft on Monday). Saturday had two great BBQs to attend, and the later one didn’t end until 4am or so. Surprised how untired I was - makes a difference having good company! Trying to get lots of time with Dennis before he moves to NM. Took a nap with the cats with college football on (yes, it was very cute). So now I’m getting into the mundane, but also happy to have my hands and mind full as I wrap it all up.

Spent the weekend at a work meeting in Phoenix - stayed at the Royal Palms Resort. I wasn’t excited about going to AZ in July when it was 108 at 8am last Friday while it was 72 in Omaha, but I’m glad I went. The place wasn’t huge and somewhat quaint, but with so many paved paths, desert flowers, palms, hidden buildings and rooms and pools - I knew it was something special. The food may have been the most incredible part (after the service). My first buffett dinner I was speaking with Fred and a staff-member caught my eye briefly and pointed toward two dishes and made a “don’t eat” shake of her hands. She just warned me which items had seafood and we never spoke about it or introduced ourselves - it was perfect! That night while others were drinking coffee, I asked for a Coke Zero. They got one from the back and mentioned they’d supply some for the next day’s meeting for me. The next day, with completely different staff, a guy asked if I’d like a Coke Zero. Yes, I know, they were told to look for the guy with “Kaleb” on his name tag, but still, I was impressed!

The restaurant was incredible. It’s hard to comment enough on how amazing it was. My meal was $54 without tip, but easily one of the best meals. I’m salivating thinking about it. I had half a duck, prepared with morrel mushrooms, and... ok, I’m doing a horrible job describing it! The dessert... I didn’t think a white-chocolate cheesecake & creme brule hybrid could taste and look so good!

I took a swim around 12:30am on Sunday morning to unwind. The pools were open 24 hours. With Camelback mountain behind me, and a starry sky (clouds came in later), it was breathtaking.

OK, I’m done with the adjectives - a mostly good trip! I highly recommend them!

********

Back when I was a kid, I learned that there were a few ways of communication, in order of effectiveness: writing (typed and then handwriting), speaking, seeing and touching. That may not be intuitive, but for those moments when you see someone’s reaction, or the effect of a simple touch on the shoulder - there can be a lot communicated very quickly. Why bring this up? Just a bit of concern about maintaining friendships over instant messaging/email/telephone/distance. I’m trying hard to make sure human contact is made when possible, but it definitely isn’t easy (even with those who live nearby). Seems that time is the most valuable commodity of all.

On that theme, my father’s cousin (and also the interior design consultant to my new basement room) is nearing her death this week with kidney failure and cancer. My amazing second cousin is doing her best to take care of her mother at home until that day arrives. I wanted to see her while she was here at the hospital, but got the feeling that they’re keeping it someone low key with the close family though I know so many of us are thinking of her. While, for now, we all have this one thing in common (an end date), it acts as a reminder to enjoy fully every day we do have. Celebrating others at weddings or just bumping into them in the hallway, finding shapes in the clouds while floating on a pool or lying on the ground or on the roof of a building, trimming the plants and petting the cat (all things I’ve done this past month) - sounds so corny, but I don’t take any of it for granted.

A lot of profound things have happened lately and I don’t share too much private happenings on this blog, but if you were here, you’d know that besides being crazy with work and travel (and I really am), I have been moved so much by others and feeling incredibly fortunate to have some great folks in my life (likely you if you’re reading this!). Thanks for you!

(Ok, no thanks to you, Mr. Loony Stalker, just in case you got your hopes up. )

I had planned to postpone this entry until I had pictures to post, but when waiting on others, one never knows when that will happen, so...

Had my first ever 4th of July in Omaha a couple weeks back. My block had a mini-parade and brunch to start off the day. Seriously, everyone on the block gathers for an hour or so - it was great to see everyone and catch up a little bit since we all seem to keep busy even in these great summer months.

I missed my Aunt’s all day party near Lincoln, but spent a long time at Phyllis’ party near the Old Market (downtown Omaha). Lots of food, drinks and people I’d never met before. SOOoo much food! Joined a fellow Omaha-newbie couple to the roof of their Old Market building. For OVER AN HOUR fireworks could be seen across the Iowa and Omaha horizons. There must have been over 20 different organized locations we could see fireworks (mostly in Iowa since the hills hid most of Omaha). When the big series went off at the ballpark (2 miles south of us), that lasted 30 mins and was the most impressive. Plus you had random fireworks being shot off of roofs everywhere. Just amazed me how serious this holiday is taken - I had forgotten what it was like after being in the “no fireworks here or the state will burn down” Cali, but even looking out at the SF bay area from the Stanford hills (a much larger and more populated area), there were far less firworks than here. Finished the night back at the original party. Had a fabulous time! (oh, I taught the group a game called Cash-n-Guns where we shoot each other like good gangsters to split the money - all around a table. Since we were outside, I’m sure it caused quite the stir from the neighbors! Pics to come).

With the help of Dennis, we finished all “construction” of the basement with the final wall base trim. All furniture arrived, and now I’m putting up posters and waiting for the curtains from my sister. Then you will see the final product in pictures!

Spent the past 6 days in CA. Saw lots of faculty/work colleagues (including Jay, yeah!), also caught up with a few friends and had an incredible time with Stacie & Mike at their small wedding on the beach. I was a bridesman (never a bride! oh wait) which was a first, and not only felt honored, but got somewhat emotional during the beautiful 15-min beach ceremony. Friends I have known for much longer told me that S&M have made them all look bad by visiting me 3 times in Omaha while no one else (except George!) has made the trek. I agreed with them, but reassured them that because of S&M I have manage much better to survive such transgressions. S&M have been together off/on for almost 13 years - true love AND stamina in a couple! Another reason we can spend hours upon hours together - the three of us have a great love of inquiry. Discussing any topic and learning as we go. I’m so happy for them and am excited about the many years to come (why am I such a sap at this hour!).

I also got in touch with a long-lost friend from Rochester this past week. 12 years later, Jen’s a proud mother of 3, musician/singer/writer, educator/administrator and life-long student. So happy to be back in touch!

And, on a completely unrelated link note, check out drhorrible.com for fun mini-movies by Joss Whedon, Neil Patrick Harris & others that will be taken down soon!

The quick update on the tree: Saturday I spent 5 hours working on trimming off all of the smaller branches. Dennis & Uncle Mark (in tie and all!) both came by and helped a lot with sawing down the medium size branches with a hand-saw (see pictures above). Then my neighbor, Steve, brought his chain-saw over and finished the big stuff. I hired my lawn-guy to take the leftovers to the dump, though he spent hours waiting in line to do so as everyone else was doing the same thing. By the end of the day, Sunday, I just had a pile of leaves/twigs on my driveway as a reminder of what was once there (again, see pic). Now I have to get an arborist to help me figure out the next steps with the part of the tree still standing. Also, I'm very sore from such work - rarely used muscles got a work out! (plus I now have a tan)

The previous weekend my family drove up and helped with the rec room one more time. We got 9 more ceiling lights installed (major pain!), sister built a media cabinet, covers for various holes in the wall, and found the source of the cat-pee smell (I sat in it!). While the cats continue to be adorable (they have their own picture area here), if they continue to react so poorly to the new carpeted rec room, we may have to take more drastic action.

Dennis bet a nice bottle of wine back in March that I wouldn't have the home theater complete by the time he returned in June. He returned, and it still wasn't complete (the "bar" or game table hadn't arrived, yet). So, to celebrate the new lights, table and him winning the bet, my Dad brought up a very nice 2000 Silver Oak Cabernet that we all shared along with some nice cheeses, crackers and the showing of a cheesy movie (National Treasure 2 - Mom's choice).

For those of you that asked, I haven't seen WALL-E, yet, but did have fun watching Wanted last night with a couple friends. Sadly, this once respectable theater pales in comparison to my own. Not bragging, just a sad state of the local theaters. I do miss the Warren theaters of Wichita!

So, after a brutal winter that rarely got above freezing, and a spring that has provided major thunderstorms every other day (and taught me about water in basements), the summer has brought the first actual casualty. I was wrapping up things at work last night but then felt the need to stay on as I wrote an awkward email to my favorite coworker. Can't decide if that was good or bad as a brutal storm hit. It felt like it was 10pm outside (it was 4:50pm), so dark and then the hail started to hit, then the power went out. Went outside and saw pieces of the building all around and large piles of hail - looked like someone just dumped coolers of ice around in piles everywhere (see pic of hail at my home 2 hours after the storm had hit). When the winds & hail died down, I made a break for the parking garage through the river that was 42nd St and street lights out (cars did not want to stop for me and it was till pouring!).

Driving home was a mess. It took 1 hour to drive 2.3 miles. From flooded streets, to trees blocking every other road to police not letting go the way I needed (I was oh so close (2 blocks) and when I asked if I could go that way and how I could get home (it was the 3rd time I'd tried that intersection) the officer yelled at me "It's not my problem, figure it out!"). To give some perspective - there was the annual Memorial Park concert and fireworks (Kool and the Gang plus .38 Special this year) planned at 6pm so there were a lot of people at the park (blocks from my home) and people at work were told to stay there until after the storm had passed, so the roads in that area were full of cars, even if it was dangerous to be out (I drove under several broken trees that could fall at any moment and over logs and curbs at places).

When I finally got to my block, the neighbors were out giving me condolences so I know something bad had happened. Nothing I could see and just a few large branches were down on the block, but then I saw it. My front large tree was split down the middle. I was so relieved that it didn't hit the house (I had seen several cars and homes flattened by trees on my drive home). See the pictures. Some friends came over for food and games anyway which was good for cheering me up.

I'm off to go help remove the tree - the rest will have to be taken down some other day, but it doesn't look like it will live. Maybe seeing WALL-E will be another nice escape this weekend.

(written on plane back to US)
While trying to figure out which train I should take, a good friend from Switzerland, Axel, ran into me. Made my "winging it alone" approach much easier. But when before I was at the stop where I was supposed to get off, they had a small strike, so I had to find a new route to the hotel (Axel had already left). Once there, I still had to fill 3 hours since my room wasn't ready (they said 10am online for me, but it was 1:30pm). Exhausted, I took a long nap, then headed out to see the Eiffel Tower and surrounding area.

Wow - it's much more impressive than I thought it would be! Which is good 'cuz if I wasn't distracted by it, I would have been by all of the couples there (meh ). Actually met a fellow tourist in line travelling by herself (boyfriend was at Radiohead concert). She's a German med student - which is especially good since the elevator to the top had me in a bit of panic/vertigo! I have a fear of heights, but at the same time I love them - something I crave and find fascinating, especially the vertigo that "tells" me to jump.

I actually went to the meeting every day of the conference. Was nice to visit with my friends and colleagues from all over the world and more relaxed than the American one (this Oct in SF) as I had very little to present and only a couple meetings requiring my attendance. Still was surprised at the lack of very large conference centers in Europe - every year it's bigger and every year it's still not big enough. Next year is Copenhagen which may be less popular of a destination, but I'm excited about it for the physics history!

As for Paris, so many observations. The obvious - very expensive and crowded. So many stores of fashion/style and pastries and so much good food. There were a host of beautiful women of all ages (maybe a requirement of living there?) though less notable attractive men. Fairly dirty in many places - more garbage cans are needed and definitely more recycle areas (they have green pods that look like the scout-probe droid from Star Wars hiding every several blocks). No recycling at the convention center.

In other important observations, they had Coke-zero everywhere - JOY! (even at McDonalds) Yes, I tried Mickie D's on the Champs-Elysees with some friends from Portugal. It was huge with a limited menu and a wide counter with ~15 staffed registers/attendants. I wanted to try some frites in France (French fries), plus there was special pleasure in reliving the scene from Pulp Fiction in my head. AND they had a mayo-salso for fries. Met a group from Vancouver there (yes, I have a habit of talking to strangers when I'm in foreign countries. Similarly 2-years ago I had a nice time (& surprsingly nice food) at a Burger King in Amsterdamn with ~10 Jamaican soldiers. Maybe it's because I have less pressure to behave myself? More likely due to preferring it to talking to the voices in my head. ). A young woman was crying on the flight to France. I gave her a Milky Way. I know, ridiculous, but she was happy to have it, and then told me in a few broken-English words about leaving her boyfriend in the US for 6 months as she went back home to school. The French miltary guy on the flight back who read more about computer RPGs than actually playing them (Josh, sound familiar to us?). So many stories...

Yes, I did try a bunch of nice French restaurants - from small social joints, to deli's, to fast-food (Paul is a nice chain), to some of the finest around (Restaurant L'Angle du Faubourg - over $100 and oh so good!). Also had some Middle-eastern, Italian & east Asian cuisines. I expected to gain weight, but made up for it by drinking coke zero (again, yeah!) and tons of walking.

How much walking? Well, I didn't take the pedometer (a mistake), but easily 10 miles a day. For example, the Louvre, which is HUGE - walked from the Arch de Triumph down to it (my friends wanted to go shopping at the Disney store. Disney is big here - almost went to Euro-Disney just because I'd never been to any of them and thought it would absurd... but I digress). This museum went on and on. So many impressive works (and so many "stolen/recovered" from times of antiquity). Loved the Egyptian writings/sculptures. The French paintings didn't impress me as much - maybe the size of them. You need a place as big as the Louvre to display them! I'm looking forward to returning there and seeing more. On the way back the metro broke down, twice, so we were forced to walk again. This time taking a detour since W was visiting. Security was incredible - makes me wonder the costs of having a disliked world-leader visit anywhere. In so much pain from walking! Also of note that evening - France lost badly (4-1) in Eurocup play, so the town was a bit depressed; I walked through a small alley filled with young lesbians (a bit of a spectacle, but here, like many other times, I couldn't interact much since I didn't know the language). Another sight - was walking to hotel after great food one late evening and discovered 9000 young adults dressed all in white, drinking champagne, and lined up around tables all up the Champs-Elysees. Apparently they meet some place random with only hours of notice every year - still don't know what it's for, but not quite a flash-mob (too well organized), but close!

My hotel room had a bidet. Just seems useless for what people tell me it's for - seems more useful for washing the feet as it's just so damn low (pic taken for Michelle's curiosity). Other notes - spoiled wrotten Americans. Can't help but notice these princes(ses) when nearby. No looks make up for such at-times vile behavior (not just women, but for this trip they stood out). Sun goes down at 10pm - no wonder everyone eats late! I finished my meal last night at 11:30pm. Sun comes up at 5am (wha?! how the hell does this make sense? Oh yeah, we are further north. But hadn't noticed this profound difference since Stockholm in 2002 which was only mostly dark between 11pm-3am). Online told me to expect cold and rain all week - it was so wrong! Yes, clouds, but it was gorgeous most everyday with temps near 70. Couldn't even get the next day's weather correct.

Tried to see Musee d'Orsay, but they had security problems and wouldn't let anyone in. It was my biggest disappointment as it houses some of my favorite paintings (impressionists). Did a walk-by of Notre-Dame. Really want to see the Disney movie again. Walked by Montmartre. Want to see Amelie again. (See the theme, yet? Though have fought away my desire to see French Kiss a 2nd time ).

OK, novella is almost done. Love the public transportation, the views, the food and overall spectacle that was Paris. Plenty more to see some other day, but great trip overall. Spent some down time working but kept it mostly to here on the plane. Body is in a lot of pain, but so it goes. Oh yeah, also saw the new La Defense in the financial center - it's huge! Took the glass elevator to the top and didn't have a med-student to save me from the vertigo/panic - completely took me by surprise! Not much to see on top, but was hilarious to see the small computer museum - I recognized so many of the machines (some of which my father still has hiding at home). Crazy to treat them as historical artifacts when they're so young. They had an Apple Newton & the same model iMac G3 that my grandparents still use! I'll put up pics shortly.

Ok, bod needs me to sleep. Congrats for reading this far!

Can't believe it's been 3 weeks since my "crappy day". Now that it's no longer freezing (and for the most part, absolutely gorgeous outside), time just flies!

Carpet was installed and I've been using the new home theater for a few local events. I now have a public Google Calendar (permanent link in my K... tab above) showing past and future events so friends can either plan ahead or check it when they want. Everyone who helped me with the basement gets to choose a movie/show of their choice in the new theater. Parents are coming back in mid June to help me finish it up - install 10 more lights, trim, curtains+. Should be a full weekend again!

I have two and a half students "working" for/with me this summer. Overall I'm fortunate as the two full-time students are hard working and good to work with, but it does change my work schedule some and adds to the responsibility list. Spent a few days working in Wichita - drove through a flash-flood storm along the way (and, just like the dislocation - which is still a major pain - I got pulled over for speeding along the way as I suspected would happen after I read about what to do when pulled over (see previous list of links), though only a warning (it's good to be so damn sexy )). Having to get a lot done before I leave for Paris - I'm actually typing this in the airport as my flight is slightly delayed. I've done nothing to prepare for what I'll be doing in Paris (besides the usual meetings, sessions, etc). Guess I'll just wing it!

While the yard looks great - new flowers popping up all the time (currently I have a pink rose bush in bloom, plus some peaneise ?sp) while others fade, we've had night after night of incredile thunder storms. Last Sat night was the worst - sirens from 2:30-3am, tornado hit a few miles away and we lost limbs, trees and power lines around the neighborhood. The worst is that I now have water collecting on the unfinished part of the basement - scared of what may be happening on the theater side! Got a new dehumidifier to help out (the kitties were taking too much time in walking through the water puddles, drying off upstairs, rinse, repeat).

Speaking of the kittehs, QBert hurt herself 10 days ago during the first marathon Heroes showing. After several days of guilt-by-others and watching her limp around (I suspected nothing was broken, but there was the uncertainty that it broke and was healing wrong), I took her to the vet, only to be told (after many xrays) that nothing was broken and that I should just let her limp and heal. Still not used to the expense of city vets.

Yesterday was my annual clothing purchase day. It's nothing official, but I rarely go shopping for clothes, and when I do, I get a lot - often to last me for the year. The bad thing is that these stores don't have carts (and the extra sad thing is that I usually need one!). Needless to say, I'll be sporting the latest in US fashion while walking and being rained on in Paris this week. As for the credit card debacle from last month - still finding new fraudulent purchases. Items that didn't reach me until I got the paper statement (don't know why they weren't listed online) - the crook easily charged over $1K in online purchases, but nothing over $100 (maybe that triggers a flag?). Also makes me question the online places I made purchases this spring - maybe that good deal on the surround speakers made this possible?

Ok, they're herding us up for boarding - off for now!

Seemed like your usual day of "recover from the weekend" - especially when that weekend was being busy working on the basement the whole time (parents drove up to help again - not yet done, but we have a few lights and electricity at last!). Also had a short get-together with some family for my cousin's HS graduation in Lincoln, had a good trip for a talk I gave in Atlanta last Friday, but got lousy sleep (arrived there after midnight and the meeting started at 7am, arrived home at 3am on Sat since my flight was delayed 3+ hours).

But today may beat all. First, was told one of my coworkers in NDB in Wichita died (she had been fighting cancer for a while), then was told that the fellow I helped recruit last year and who was to be our new "research star" now has little interest in research (a big blow), then after returning from an hour of more basement shopping at Menards, I find my car has been dented and scratched along two doors from a parking lot hit and run (easily $1K+ damage), and tonight while doing my finances I discover 8+ purchases of $600+ made fraudulently on my credit card from the past two weeks.

I'm ready for tomorrow!

What a difference a week makes! Last Monday I was playing ultimate (the frisbee football game), going for a long catch in the endzone, tripped hard on the long grass and fell with all my weight on my left shoulder. I heard and felt it snap. I was stunned for a bit on the ground (and I think I swore some, too). Shortly I opened my eyes to find myself surrounded by all of the players (~13 others) - felt like I should be giving orders in a football game or something. I said that it was dislocated and when asked if I could move my arm (ouch, hell no!), I told them to slowly move it up and over my head to pop it back in (which caused several to turn their heads away). What's funny is that only 3 days earlier I was on a flight to Dallas and read a short blurb in Wired magazine about what to do if you dislocate your shoulder - good timing!

*POP* Back it went. It hurt, but felt like I could use it. So I got up, walked off the field and sat and whimpered. My friend Michelle took me to the ER, did X-rays and confirmed the dislocation. Was told that most folks don't pop it back themselves, but they come to ER, get tons of pain pills and get a team of people to pop it back. Made me feel like a tough guy. Sent me home and I've been semi-useless for a lot of the week. First night I awoke after 3 hours screaming in my sleep and then couldn't sleep for 3 more hours. Pain was too much. Discovered later that I fractured my coracoid process - just means it will take longer to heal. I see an orthopod on Wednesday (happens to be a research collaborator). Still very uncomfortable, but we'll see. I've gotten behind with work again due to it. Can't type for long. Was told by doc that I can't play ultimate for many weeks and am at high risk for new dislocation.

In good news, I got my first grant this week! It's from the Arthritis Foundation - a career development award for two years. I'm very pleased. I'm also off to Atlanta to give a high-profile talk (which I haven't started due to April abstracts and the shoulder injury). Had a few folks over for games/food last night - good way to cheer myself up and enjoy the coming of spring. Absolutely gorgeous outside! So many flowers and my house is surrounded by lilies - the entire neighborhood is awash in colors. Truly can appreciate the entire city during this time of year.

The ceiling of the basement is almost finished, but I'm unable to do much on it for a while. Electrical work is next, then carpet, then almost done! Very behind on email - hard to type for a while - still a bit slow. Appreciative of the kitties cuddling...

I've been uber negligent again, but this is usually the busiest month of the year for - the ACR abstracts were due tonight and they're done for another year! Unfortunately I didn't create any at the last minute as I needed, but I did help with 27 other ones (yes, a new record!). Just means I'll be busy helping with them again next Sept/Oct preparing them for the meeting in SF, but maybe I'll have more time to enjoy SF since I won't be presenting any of them.

So I'm still on the nasal sinus rinse and liquid prednisolone for my sinuses. I'm curious as to how much of an effect this will for the long-term use (my research often looks at steroid-induced osteoporosis) though it's been worth it to breath easily and be able to work without headaches.

I finished painting the last of the 2x2' ceiling tiles last night and tonight I began on round 2 with them - going with 2 coats. Woot! Also made headway on basement - done painting the walls (April 5-7), insulation in ceiling (April 22), speaker cables all wired in walls (April 20-tonight), and started on the ceiling grid panels (April 29-next week). Carpet comes in on May 12th or so, which means all should be operating in time for the weekend of the 17th! It's exciting as it gets closer, but damn it's been a lot more work than I thought it would be! (now I understand why people hire out)

Stacie & Mike visited the weekend of April 12 (yes, they win for flying out to visit me more than anyone else!) and we had a quiet 2 days of conversation, food and fun. Always memorable and appreciated. It was miserably cold then and off and on all month. Seemed like The Longest Winter that was 2008 didn't want to end in March like a lamb after all.

Last weekend was our annual RAIN meeting - I gave a 50 min talk on the RAIN database that I and Kate, my talented grad student, had been working on. It's not finally live, but is now publicly viewable here. Also spent a full day learning how to write better grants last Tuesday. Likely will work on another "new investigator" award this summer as well as a 5-year NIH K-award. One could spend so much time writing these... and probably should, though I'd rather write papers and do new research. Who needs money?

QBert got the plastic cone of silence placed on her head for the past 10 days. Had an ear infection again and had scraped her head up rotten (see camera-phone pic in Cats section - my camera broke 2 months ago so apologies for no nice new pics in a while!). She's much better, but not sure she's forgiven TB for hissing and attacking the cone-head so often (though it was sad and funny to watch her bump into things with it). I still have to give her meds every morning and night. I'm thinking of putting the cone-head on TB so she can be teased/tortured and may lose some weight.

Still much to do with and at work. Trying to sleep earlier - nice when I have more of a nice day to get things done. Wrapped up season 3 of Battlestar Galactica and wondering about catching up with 4 (the last). Still my fav show on TV, even if I don't watch TV. Have had active de ja vu of late, too, with bizarre and wonderful dreams. And speaking of bizarre, check out Southland Tales, the movie. Definitely enjoyed it, even if overly ambitious (just like the same director's Donnie Darko, but very different).

Still doing the weekly game night (we had 14 this week!) and finally started weekly ultimate games, though only made 2 so far (too many Mondays were freezing!). When the basement is done, will host regular showings. About time I had something nice for the multitude of flicks at home - though the next question, how many bean-bag chairs to get?

There's a lot more I'm leaving out (my private life stays private it seems), but it was a full and exciting month. The flowers I planted last Nov are blooming and I had crocuses, tulips, daisies and now roses blooming. I love my yard!

Next up, trips to Dallas, Atlanta, parents visit, graduations, more work work - then only 1 trip per month for the rest of the year (so far). Also, I had lunch with coworkers and Warren Buffett sat next to us again. Twice in one year - such nice neighbors! He says that the recession will be long and deep... what a perfect time to go to Europe while the dollar is down. ugh. (Paris in June)

Thanks for not giving up on me - I'm baack!

Spent last weekend in Dallas so this blog post is a week behind. Sheetrock was put up in the basement last Monday and every morning for a few hours additional work (putty'ing, smoothing and then sanding) was done with it finished on Friday morning - Yeah! Unfortunately none of the guys who did the walls ever cleaned up any part of their messes (very annoying). So first thing this morning, with the help of Uncle Brian, Aunt Terri & Tim (later Lizzy) we cleaned up the basement, then put up primer and then painted one coat on the wall and did ~30 2x2' tiles in the garage. It was a gorgeous and productive day! (but that's just the basement - I'm going back late tonight to do coat #2)

One of the better friends I've made here in NE drove off to Virginia this morning. We got a lot of fun time in this week and I hosted a goodbye party for him last night with food, games and then cheering him on in a 11pm hockey game (the highlight of which was him pursuing the puck, the defender and him flying into the wall, Dennis turning and in one motion launching the puck 30' into the air and goal net while the ref blows his whistle and gives him 5 mins in penalty box for checking even though the defender hit the wall on his own accord). Dennis will return in June, but means that our band, Frash, may be on hiatus for a bit.

In work I had my annual review (actually, it was to my surprise since I continued to have phone problems and had no up-to-date calendar - got new phone and fixed the software problem (as of yesterday!)). While it was probably mostly positive, it was easy to focus on the criticisms. Because I don't see patients, it becomes easy for others who do to think that I have lots of free time at work and add more to my workload. It got a bit over the top this winter with this combined with being sick too often. I also was asked to chair a university committee and our first meeting was this week. I didn't know anyone on the committee, and only being here a year, I knew very little about the system we were being asked to provide new regulations/designs for. I wasn't overly worried as a couple higher-ups were to start this meeting, give us our charge and provide early leadership... neither of them showed up! I did a decent job on the fly, but it was very frustrating since I was asking more questions than I was able to answer and probably did little to establish confidence in the committee's goals. (and while I was determined to say no to jobs like this, this one will apply directly to my research in getting data for my local database plus give me some needed cool points with the university).

Kansas just won - what an exciting and krazy game! Gonna use this energy to do some more painting. Still feel like I have a ways to go on the basement, but it's nice to see the transformation in action. One step at a time...

In good news, my grandfather had his gallbladder taken out last week (right after Easter) and is doing much better. Yeah!

I'm skipping over a lot of other important events from this past week including some major ups and downs, but I'm off to paint!

I've officially begun remodeling my basement. Last week I took down all of the ceiling in the large open basement room and today I took out the walls and ceiling in the bathroom. I'm exhausted. MUST get help next time (stubborn), but it is cool to know that I can do so much of it. Plumbers begin their work this week, then electrician (Dad) arrives next weekend for wiring. Must seal walls/floors somewhere in there, too, and start finalizing final layout of rooms/equipment (theater). FUN!

It's been a while since I put anything here. The sinus infection didn't go away, just lingered. Got CT scan to show just how bad it is. On the longer kick of antibiotics, steroids (hence doing so much work today! ), and other sinus gunk removal. TMI!

March 1 brought a beautiful day - ~65F! Most of the snow/ice melted, though I was in a work meeting for most of daylight. And today, it rains, then snows and now freezes to everyone will slide around into each tomorrow. Back to the miserable winter! (Ok, I like precipitation most times, but this winter has been brutally cold - coldest on record in a several decades. So I don't complain as an ex-Californian, but along with the locals.

Celebrated my uncle's birthday on Friday - only his 13th! The joys of being born on Feb 29. (OK, it's sad that I don't know any of my other uncles' bdays or even that my Grandmothers was a week or so ago. Bad habit of not knowing/recording from being a kid and being far away from extended family (ie. never celebrated with them).

Visited my close friend Teresa over V-day weekend in Memphis. Got to see her "perform" in Vagina Monologues, met some of her fellow faculty, and she & hubby treated me lots of good bbq pork, breakfast, and some hippy homemade food to help clear out the damage.

Saw Gaelic Storm last Thursday in a live show - very fun with bagpipes, guitar, fiddle and many other unique mix of folk and rock performances. Hosted an Oscars party last Sunday. Played Scene It, had food/movie competitions and, of course, the requisite ballot for the awards. Came in 2nd with 10 correct. Was disappointed that Diving Bell and the Butterfly didn't get any awards (or even nominated for best foreign language film, but overall was content. Not quite sure why Bourne Ultimatum was so popular for sound though.

Hosted one of the annual game nights, too, with lots of Indian food. SOooo happy and full! Good to know that I can prepare a few things, but still managed to burn the basmati rice (no one knew, I think ). Also have been playing some weekly indoor basketball/ultimate. Last Thurs/Sat drove home to Kansas for work and fam - got it down to 380 miles in 4.5 hours as my standard time (only interstate for a third). Never a dull moment!

In the big geek department, Frash did the Endless Setlist in Rock Band - we did all 58 songs in a row in one night. Whew!!! We still get stuck on The Police's Next To You, but feel that we're getting better and better.

On a more somber note, an amazing man, Gerhard Kander, that I had the pleasure of meeting 3-4 times in the past 2 years died on New Years (I noticed that many others that I knew or friends died that day). Nice little write-up about him. He introduced me to fine cognac and had stories that kept me enthralled.

Falling asleep, but wanted to get a full "Life" update out! Pictures will arrive one of these days!

So I'm finally starting to feel better! Yesterday I slept in until 11:30am (12 hrs sleep) and was still a wreck all weekend, but feel like I've broken through this mad cold sickness. Still have a nagging cough, but nothing slowing me down too much. Got a grant submitted last Friday afternoon (with 3 mins to spare) - no fun having to work while sick all week. I did celebrate by seeing Ladysmith Black Mambazo - and even though I was sick, it was an amazing concert. Inspirational, fun and just a great site for the ears! But due to being sick, I also missed the Nebraska Democratic party caucus on Sat (I'm actually registered as independent, but I'm unsure if that would really stop me from participating). Was rare to have Obama here. Also Chelsea was here, too (wonder if she remembers me from Stanford? :-P ). I seriously think I've bruised one of my ribs from coughing so much...

I've been slow with my internet surfing of late. But here were a few highlights.

NYTimes business article on the effective (Red) campaign for charity.

So I was sick for the Superbowl, but I did laugh out loud for a few commercials. Here were a few of my favorites:
Talking Stain ad for Tide
Contest winner for Doritos
Will Ferrell - Jackie Moon - for Bud Light - original, and a longer different one
Pepsi Stuff (extended) with Justin Timberlake (ok, here's the Chris Kattan Pepsi one as well)
E-Trade w baby and clown

And for a mix, here's Hollywood physics - they didn't put on some of the more horrendous refutations of natural laws (The Core, Real Genius, and Back to the Future come to mind ), but still some bad ones (and credit to 1-2 for doing it well!).

A good friend of mine is looking to recruit fellow math-geeks for a 1-2 year adventure of teaching in Kenya. See here for more details. She says the recent violence is isolated and has not affected expats or this group at all.

Here's to being healthy again! (and not catching up with mail, email, work... ack!)

So here it is, another year come and gone. And what a new and strange year it's been! Spent this last night at Dennis' with the game-playing group. How appropriate and fun it was. December will be known for deadlines, last-minute shopping, the break-in, holiday dinners, game-nights, family and friends and lots of cold and snow!

This was also the first Christmas that I wasn't traveling cross-country since 1991... and even then we drove 5.5 hrs to Lincoln. It was great to have my family nearby and Dad worked hard to help fix up some holes, electrical outlets and other fix-it items in the home. No lights up yet, but the neighborhood definitely looked festive and more than made up for my lack of lights, though the moment we get a new real snow (and not just short layers on top of our ice), I've got all the fixins for a snowman! (thanks to Phyllis - also thanks to Melissa for sending me one of the items that was stolen as a nice surprise gift!)

Some more rock band playing, Frash and other "groups" - see the latest addition in pics, plus a crazy pic of Dennis, Lizzy, Marie & me being goofy next to the Christmas tree. It's been a big change being in Omaha, and I wouldn't have survived it without such great new friends and family nearby. Lots ahead and looking forward to each day still with a skip in my step (though with the ice outside, may have to be a bit more careful - it's been a lot of fun sliding around on foot and in my car!)

Lots of snow this past week and it's been very cold. I've been having fun sliding around in my car, driving faster than I should and experimenting (controlled learning?) with how much I can get away with, though unfortunately tonight I was fortunate to be losing control into an intersection that had just turned red so they could see not to go with me sliding into it. Yeah, no one was hurt, but it was an adrenaline check for the night.

Went with a group of 9 to see Blade Runner: The Final Cut at the local arthouse theater. It was wonderful to see my favorite movie for the first time on the big screen! It was gorgeous, but honestly I was slightly disappointed that they didn't "fix" the minor flaws in the movie (transitions, voice-over dialogues, etc). In fact, it was hard to tell what was different in it besides cleaning it up and a couple brief scenes here/there. Three of the 9 hadn't seen it before and had fun mocking the old-school style and technology and the fact that everyone in the theater was quiet and serious while at least two of them couldn't help but giggle at it... silly girls!

Lots of holiday parties - got to see the local botanical gardens last night with the internal medicine department. Our band, Frash, is back in action and we're tearing up Europe in Rock Band. Can't believe Christmas is a week away - I am so far behind. Looks to be one of those years where January is where I send out my gifts. ugh. And, to keep each line a different subject, it seems my fantasy football luck has run out during the first week of the playoffs after doing so well (2nd place in both money leagues). *sigh*

On to the links!
Something to add to my wish list: inside-joke logo from Portal (the game!) This is from jinx.com, creators of the baby-wear that I still giggle about (see, I can be silly, too)

They have a theater production of "Point Break Live" in LA. Apparently, just like in the real movie, they take a no-talent man from the audience and have him play the main character, Johnny Utah (Kueno Reeves in case you don't know the movie - I actually like him, but am not a big fan of his acting).

You may have heard/seen this already, but enjoyed Carly Comando's Everyday original piano composition that you can hear and watch the "inspired" youtube video at. Apparently the Simpsons recently referenced it tonight as well including the Youtube self-reference.

Keeping consistent with my life thus far, a lot happened this past week. Attended a big charity auction for the local Children's Hospital with lots of big-wigs, it was a nice venue (Quest Center) and interesting environment with so many dressed up and people bidding thousands of dollars on unnecessary items (I know, it's for charity!). Big ice storm hit and so I experimented with it and drove out to see a matinee of No Country For Old Men - another excellent Coen brothers' movie. Drove down to Mount Hope, KS on Sunday night so I could be up early on Monday to get a small hole near my front tooth filled in. My dentist is very impressive (besides the fact that his office is in a town or population 800). Very quick and good at fooling me in to letting him do something painful without having time to react. My tooth looks very nice - good luck figuring out which one it was!

Spent a few days working in Wichita - lots of projects to work on. Took the parents out to see the Digital 3-D showing of Beowulf at the Warren Theatre. Truly amazing show! I HIGHLY recommend this - we had such a blast even though we had the dorky plastic 3-D glasses on.

Tuesday night found out from my neighbors that someone had broken into my house. Left work early on Wed so I could get back and have the police check things out (they wouldn't do anything other than a quick house check while I was away). On the drive up the mall shooting occurred near my home in Omaha. I found out about it from friends texting me before I heard it on the news. I called the police when I got home and an officer spent a few hours working on the report, talking to neighbors and getting the crime lab guy over for taking prints. The latter came over from the mall where he said he had seen "too many dead people today". President Bush spoke earlier in Omaha that day, then the mall shootings, then getting home...

As for my house, the thief broke in through a back door and stole ~$1500 worth of electronics. Mostly xbox hardware, peripherals and games. Yes, it sucks to lose such things, but the bigger thing is a) feeling less secure because of it (I haven't had a full night's sleep yet, very sensitive to any noises) & b) losing all of those saved games from the last 6+ years including my 100+ hours each in DDR and Morrowing/Oblivion. Needless to say I've more sensitive to securing my home and improving it as well. A great thanks goes out to my neighbors for watching my house, calling the police, and boarding up the broken door window as well as taking care of my kittens (of which TB has blackened paws as she apparently stepped in the powder used for fingerprints and is now leaving her mark many other places... argh!).

One of the residents at work told me a story. She asked her technician to get her something at McDonalds last week. The tech came back fairly late and unhappy - said she had horrible experience, bad service and yelled at McDonald's worker. Apparently the guy she worked with was the same one who got fired last week and then went on killing spree in the mall on Wed. Trippie. Also, while I expected this, saw a letter to the local editor stating that this crime was due to growth of secular humanism and turning away from Christianity. This knee-jerk reaction always disgusts me (as it happens after every tragedy).

On a lighter note, the week ended with friends and games. Also watched Labyrinth ('86) and remembered how much fun it was to sing-along and dance to David Bowie in it. Also, here's a line I didn't pay attention to 10+ years ago when I last saw it. Jennifer Connelly says "Sorry Hogwart" to Hoggle, the dwarf. I wonder if JK got the name from this?

So what will next week bring?

With the upgrade to Leopard came some incompatibilities with my software. It's been fixed and now pictures are up where they belong and I also put up the mystery party. Hopefully will keep up this habit of writing once a week or so and getting videos up as well.

Had a good Thanksgiving weekend. Nice time with family and celebrating my sister's birthday. Ate lots, played lots of games (Wits and Wagers, Zooleretto, Werewolfe). Friday was a surprise birthday party for Dennis - played games of all types for 13 hours! Took a lot of Rock Band breaks - yes, my living room looks like a garage band hangout. Four of us created a new band... called "Frash". The name came in second to "Fresh Produce". The game is a lot of fun. We'll have to meet up and practice more this week.

Watched some football. Kansas played a good second half, but the first put them too far behind (couldn't make any field goals!). Hope Missouri will go all the way. Even though Nebraska was horrible, I did laugh out loud when Eric Cartman introduced the Colorado defense. Chiefs & Stanford lost, too - made it a perfect losing weekend!

The trip to Boston was a full one. Got to see Allison, play Wii for first time and get my butt handed to me repeatedly on boxing. I love the implementation of the wiimote in Wii Sports, but not going to get one, yet (graphics are lousy, too many good 360 games). But, as I play DDR for exercise and my legs show it (tight!), after only a little while with the Wii, my arms were sore - clearly a sign that I should be working out with them, too. OK, from now on DDR with punch moves!

I'm going to skip a lot of the business of the convention in Boston. Needless to say, I spent 18 hours a day in meetings, finishing posters/talks, networking, and working on new project ideas. But enough about that! (I was fortunate enough to see some great friends during the week, too, and made some new ones - so I kept what little remains of my sanity in tact)

Got to see Wicked at Boston Opera House. Wonderful story! Music was pretty good. When I returned to Omaha, 2 hours later I got to see Spamalot - hilarious! Fun all the way through - better music and comedy, but less on the story (imagine that). Feel fortunate to see them both in 8 days.

While away the neighbor-folk took care of the kittehs. Here's a picture of them ensuring that my dining table is being used well... but where are the kittehs?! (edit: picture currently not working )

Actually, the heater hasn't been working. Neighbor "Stevo" brought in an expert who did the quick fix and last night he was nice enough to come over and finish the job. Too much humidity getting in, causing buttons to get stuck, metal to rust and fuses to go out. Still more to fix, but so good to have heat - though it was nice to have extra attention from the kittens, though now I know it was because they were cold and wanted to curl up!

Had another game night - expected only 3 to show but in the last 3 hours everyone wanted to come over and there were 14 or so who came by throughout the night. Take 6, Ticket to Ride, Guitar Hero jams, DDR match-offs and Werewolfe were part of the fun. We also got to figure out who was allergic to cats and who wasn't. I HAVE to get rid of the extra cat hair! Even my allergies have gotten much worse.

Got to be part of a surprise 40th birthday party for my coworker, Ted. A wonderful surprise put on by his wife, though I don't think anyone really wanted to see him get his arse beat with a paddle by 40 different attendees - his siblings were rough!

Good to be back for a while including being able to spend the holidays with family without having to go far. Spent time on weekend trimming down the plant growth from around the house. So many leaves! Planted some tulips for next spring... we'll see if anything comes from it. They should be deep purple.

It's the busiest time of the year for me. Conferences abound, have to finish posters, and create presentations for classes and elsewhere. I have another few days in between trips, but plenty to write about.

There was a large gathering of family members this weekend to celebrate my grandfather's 80th birthday. It was nice to see so many in attendance! I got a lot captured on video, but haven't taken the time to figure out how to transfer that here... yet.

The mystery party was a hit! A bit difficult for so many that were new to it, but still a lot of fun. A group of 12 of us went to Perkins until 2am to chat afterwards. I'll create a new web site for it once I'm back longer.

Also did some work at Stanford, got to see some friends in CA and attended Bo & Laurie's wedding in Santa Rosa. Afterwards I spent 4 days at a conference in Pittsburgh. Gorgeous weather and view of downtown skyline, and learned a lot as well. Zooloretto is Michael & Smita's newest favorite board game, too. And, as usual, I am grateful for my neighbors taking care of my kittens while I'm away.

Today I got to see Baxter (now named James), too. The new owner surprised me by bringing him by. TB hissed at him and he definitely looked disoriented being back at home (though he knew to go downstairs to get food!). Glad he's happy at his new home and reminds me that 2 cats are plenty.

The weather is getting cold! Need to get the sprinkler system aired out...

Had 2 game nights this week - one with the usual game-night crowd (played Arkham Horror), and one with the non-game night crowd who were dismayed not to know anything about the "official" game night crowd from the mystery party. Both were a lot of fun and both had way too much Halloween snacks! I'm feeling stuffed still and no DDR to help... time to run around the block a few more times.

Finally attended my first ever Nebraska college football game on Saturday! They played Ball State. Not known to be a powerhouse, but 4 quarters later NU wins 41-40. Horribly exciting game. If they had lost, I never would have been allowed to attend another future game. It would have been arguably the biggest upset at home ever (though Ball State's 2 losses are now at 1 pt and their quarterback was the MVP by far). So many people in that stadium. It becomes the 3rd largest population center in the state (after Omaha and Lincoln) and holds the record for longest consecutive sold-out games at 200 & some since the 1960s.

Visited with the grandparents afterwards and then got stuck in 2+ hrs of traffic driving home as they blocked off the entrance to the interstate and made thousands of us drive 3mph on 2-line highway through small towns back. It was ridiculous! To add injury to insult, I got a horrible sun burn on the right side of my face (I was on the NW corner of the stadium) and so not only does it hurt like hell, I have an early Halloween costume as Two-Face.

In other news, Baxter is no longer with us. He joined his new home, a mile or so away, on Wed night. It's been rough and I miss him dearly, but I'm already breathing better and have had less attacks on the plants. Plus, not sure if it's fear of being sent away, but the remaining two girl kittens (TB & Qbert) are being extra affectionate since he left. Apparently he's a bit hit in his new home which makes me feel better. He definitely had a big impact during his 4 months with me. Irreplaceable...

Today, besides the Chiefs pulling out a win from behind, our block had a dedication of a tree/memorial to someone who used to live here. It was a touching small ceremony with so many neighbors in attendance and with food/drinks afterwards. Makes me feel fortunate to live on such a nice block.

For humor link this week - an alternative animation of Spiderman 3 (don't watch if you haven't seen the movie and still plan on it someday).

Two times this past weekend I found myself getting mad at someone I didn't know. This is only a big deal because of its rarity. Last Friday while picking up a friend from CA at the Omaha airport, I was told that he'd be right outside the door in a few seconds. I slowly pull up to the curb, put it in park and immediately there is an obese security officer outside my door. I roll down the window and he says I need to drive around until my passenger is outside (up to now, all understandable). I tell him he's only a few seconds away as I just spoke with him, and the "cop" says, "Sure, that's what they all say." I then protest with "What? I just got off the phone with him." and he replies, "I'd like to believe you, really, but..." and then shoos me forward. I take off and immediately pull back over to the curb 2 cars down as Mike has come out of the airport. The whole thing of parking and reparking took less than 30 secs, but I was so mad at the insinuation of being called a liar by an authority figure.

The second time was less offensive, though the more I thought about it, the more negative it seemed. Usually after our weekly ultimate frisbee event we relax with burgers at a local dive (with buy 1, get 1 free deal). This week our new waitress wasn't very good especially in comparison with the past 7-8 weeks of going there. We had 3 bills for the 7 of us. For one bill she gave them $6 more back for change than she should have, but the two people who got this free money didn't tip her, nor did 2 others, any thing at all. This was done primarily at the urging of one guy who seemed to be upset with food, service and was tight for $ (jobless). I protested to the group on deaf ears and, in the end, came back and put some more $ on the table. I was hoping we would still get service for future evenings there as I recall from my days in the restaurant biz of 1) refusing future service to those who didn't tip (or someone doing bad things to the food to those who didn't tip), 2) wait staff getting taxed on each table regardless of how much they were actually tipped. Such that when I have bad service, I mention it to the manager and/or give 5-10% tip as a minimum. Guess it's not a set thing for all, but no tip plus the "stealing" of money that wasn't theirs got me going.

All in all, great and full weekend with Stacie & Mike from CA! Game night on Thurs, swing dancing on Fri, football party on Sat with neighbors and a few other friends (yeah, NE got smoked again) with lots of DDR & ping-pong, saw Holy Family Shrine on Sun, the zoo on Mon (OK, I dropped them off there after visiting with friend who is admin there and gave us a short mini-tour) and lots of good food and drinks throughout.

So, still have all 3 kittens. They are wonderful, but I wouldn't complain if someone wanted to take 1 or 2 just due to effort needed by one guy who isn't home as much as they'd like. LOTS more pictures posted in the kitteh area. They had so much fun with the bubble-wrap! Today when I let them out of the basement (so I don't have to constantly be protecting the few remaining plants and other breakable items in the house), only 2 appeared though the 3rd was audible... then I noticed the ceiling panels were bowing one by one. Q-Bert was trapped up there! It was hilarious - no idea how she did it, but the other 2 were fascinated watching me try to pull her out. They've gotten big enough that they're no longer as scared of the Roomba, mostly just annoyed by it (Baxter plays chicken with it, too).
My non-working life has been full - weekly game nights with friends, swing dance lessons and parties (no, still a newb at it!), weekly ultimate (frisbee) games, and lots of ad-hoc events mean there's never a dull moment. In fact, I miss my neighbors! Cooking more at home, using the kitchen. Finished the Harry Potter book (I don't usually put a book on pause to read another, but so many people were talking about it, I felt peer pressure to read before major plot points were revealed. I loved the book, but can tell that it's a kids book as knowing these plot points can ruin it whereas the "adult" books I read doesn't really matter as much what happens, it's all about the journey).
Better call it a day, but there are still pics from Spain to arrive next (so close to being caught up!). Thanks for your patience and for reading!

The day after the work party at my house, I drove to Tulsa (picked Sara, my sis, up along the way) for a Buckles family reunion (my Dad's side). It was nice to see family that I hadn't seen in so long, but a storm hit (recurring theme) and took out the electricity in our hotel. It was damn hot and muggy, so made a mess of the event, though the kids, Sara and I still tried playing a board game in the dark.

After spending a few days back in KS for work and seeing the fam, I hosted a Forney family reunion (Mom's side) at my house. One day of lots of BBQ, games, ping pong and hanging out. Good to see everyone!

Last week was my birthday as much of the world discovered through the help of myspace, facebook and even skype. It was a wonderful day - starting to finally feel like this is my home. So many birthday wishes, hellos and little things really added up and just made my day. My coworkers took me out to lunch at a local Thai restaurant (Bangkok Cuisine), and a few good friends joined me for wonderful and unique pizza (La Casa), a new board game (Mall of Horror), and a new vid game, Bioshock, that came out the same day.

I also got a special treat from Amy who was in Leipzig, Germany for work (at a games conference).

Who is this? Why it's the infamous, attractive, and face of gaming (the Baroness)... Jessica Chabot! Since I probably know much more about video games from the media rather than from actually playing (end sob story); she's been reporting and playing them for fans like me for as long as I've been paying attention to such video reports. Her IGN blog. Myspace (who knew a myspace profile could look so good?) & personal site. Yeah, I should have known that she would have a larger web presence... guess that makes this gift that much more thoughtful!

Plus, a couple other friends "celebrated" my bday by discovering they were pregnant. To each their own way of celebrating.

During the 2 minutes of escorting friends to their cars on Friday night, the cats attacked again.

Oh, and I still have three so if you want a beautiful, sweet and loving kitten, please take mine!!! I'm getting a bit desperate as I'm no longer able to rest or do work at home while they're up and about and that's impaired me in many ways. Yeah, I'm making an assumption that my life will be better minus 1 or 2 kittehs.

Saw my cousin Erica's performance in Crazy for You (the musical) in an outdoor production near Lincoln. It was a lot of fun and more so as clouds and lightning and wind threatened to end it early. Instead I had the most amazing lightning show straight ahead on the horizon. I've had a lot going on lately (when is that new?), but maybe more so emotionally, and the spectacle reminded me of why I trudge on. That life isn't fair, but it can be beautiful and you never know what will happen next and it's too short and ... and that I won't forget what and who is important to me and that I need not ever forget the good times in the past but will live creating and looking forward to the good times of tomorrow as they will come again in new ways. Yeah, something about an electric storm, fun musical and driving (and being tired) that leads me to this reflective state.

I'm way behind in many ways, but a lot of pictures are coming out soon (including pics from Spain & Cali!).

So I've added a new section to my photo area - just for kittens. But as I've been gone a lot lately and they've grown, so has the amount of messes being made. Yes, they were litter trained from the beginning, but curiosity combined with a hatred of plants (what else would you call it) has left a destructive path.

The carnage here left the entire bathroom full of dirt all over the tiles (and a permanently shut door for kitties). Uncertain if plant will make it (it was Sara's, too! ).


The faux flower display on my dining table was the most recent casualty - lots of small pieces of glass to clean up.


The saddest one was the discovery that my favorite mug (gotten a decade ago at the Renn Faire with Josh, Sarah and friends) was ceramic and destructible after being pushed off of 4 ft heights. At least they're following the scientific method...


Lastly, I'd like to tag some or any of the kitty pics on this site. Maybe something for icanhascheezburger.com fame? I especially like QBert hiding from the Roomba (maybe a Dalek reference here?) or the series of pics of TB attacking the fish on the TV while I was watching the BBC's Planet Earth (wonderful series!).

Got the 3 musketeers vaccinated today and related first check-ups. Over $300!!! Just another reason why I need to get their number down to 2 or 1 (update, cousin Kortney will be new owner of QBert as of Sat and will likely rename her).

But for good reasons!
Friday night had too many things going on at once. Uncle Garry & Aunt Paula and family+ (10 total) came by to see the new home and attend the free local concert and fireworks at the nearby park. Attended work picnic with literally a horde of little kids and babies (apparently all of the residents/fellows at UNMC chose that time to reproduce - breaking records). Had 4 friends come over afterwards and we all joined neighbors for BBQ and walked en masse to the fireworks and a little dancing to the final throws of KC & the Sunshine Band. Fireworks were impressive considering they were right above us and we just walked a few blocks to get there.
Yesterday I played softball for 2+ hours with a new group (mostly made up of swing dancers - the Omaha jitterbugs) and then ultimate frisbee. I haven't done either since jr high (softball) and college (ultimate) and my body is sore! Very nice group - got invited to do movie, D&D, and more for later that night. Instead took the option with least amount of physical activity - played poker with another group for 5 hrs or so. Whew!
Needless to say, the summer has brought out many new friends, activities and renewed my faith in the Omaha area.

So a LOT has happened this month, but no time to write about all of that now as the immediate real life is getting in the way. So, today, for example we have: 1) woke up in pain from 3-day "sickness", tried to get work done and in the end stayed home and only did about 4 hrs of work off/on through the day with head and gut aches, allergies, sinus gunk and joints, 2) kittens destroyed more today than ever before including major claw marks on all 3 of the new leather sofa pieces, 3) got two very large and unexpected bills in mail and 4) basement is leaking out of almost all walls and floors about 25 gallons of water an hour - no, it didn't rain, but I pulled the knob to turn on the lawn sprinkler system, notices lots of water going through pipes, but nothing in yard, so after a half hour turned it off and then the flood began. Seems the basement has been painted over real thick with water-soluable paint and that there are lots of holes/cracks that weren't ever sealed. Have no idea what to do next tomorrow (besides continue to vacuum up water, be healthy as I have to be at work for several meetings and many others are awaiting email from me on various projects), but the excitement will never cease.

What I do know: I) that stomach ache is likely related to stress and that I need to not let it or any other ailment own me, II) that my neighbors absolutely rock (from taking care of kittens while I'm away, lending me vacuum for flood, and just being good company when I'm down or up), III) that bills and work will get done and I'll do the important items first and enjoy the parts that are worth doing (ie. most parts - research, teaching, managing), and IV) that I feel incredibly fortunate to have people out there that care about me even if they don't live close by (most likely the same people who are reading this... yes, you!).

I look forward to sharing about other recent events including a) trip to Spain, b) beginning of summer midwest style & c) other reasons for taking pictures, but one step at a time. I think I have one more trip to the basement in me before bed...

Drove down with 3 co-workers for a fellow coworker's wedding in Springfield, MO. Bit of a drive and I got my 2nd ever ticket for speeding as I didn't notice that the limit went down to 45mph in Clinton, MO (previous ticket was near Concordia, KS many years ago when they, too, had a somewhat hidden drop in speed limit). Besides the ticket, had a good time celebrating the wedding and doing best at dancing. It was often lonely out there, but the group from Omaha represented NE well on the dance floor. Pretty tired and kitties won't leave me alone tonight (they missed me).

Also, we stopped for lunch at Gates in Kansas City. Oh my goodness - wonderful BBQ! I know it's not the best in KC, but the ribs put everything I've had in CA and NY and most states in between to shame! A nice reminder of a "food stuff" that we have better here than on the coasts. Soo good!

So this is long overdue, but I was actually expecting more photos from this trip to choose from. After the ACR abstract deadlines of May 3 (work) came, I flew to CA. That weekend Mandi & I drove up to visit my family in Oregon (see pics of Aunt Dee previously) and then went caving again with a great group at the Lava Bed monument.







Then spent a week working at Stanford, meeting up with colleagues I've missed, enjoying the evenings and was treated to lots of good food (Korean dinner party - does anyone have a good group pic from this?), watched Spiderman 3 & Hot Fuzz (the latter was hilarious!) and a game party at Doug & Melissa's new home (same question for here) where I also got to see a very pregnant Melissa! (OK, Kemmeo, you were pregnant, too, just not very pregnant )

I returned to NE only to drive down to Mt. Hope, KS (my home since I left in '92 for college) to pick up new kitties (see previous post) and spend the week working at the NDB offices in Wichita. Also got to see high school classmate, Christine, who is also pregnant (ack! this is an epidemic!).

The last two weekends I got the ping pong table set up (took hours with the help of Andy, Erin, and Uncle Mark), and had an Indian themed party over memorial weekend. That same weekend Stacie, from CA, came to visit (my 2nd visitor to NE, yay!) and see the sights of Omaha as well as just hang out and catch up. Also, memorial weekend, my sister Sara, Mom & Grandma came to visit and Sara stayed over as well and helped out at the party. They had a rabbit show on Sunday and on Monday I got together with most of my Mom's family and then hung out with my Dad's parents. Long overdue and a very full weekend! As for the party - had lots of great Indian food - some made/bought from local grocer, other was brought in from Tandori Fusion restaurant. Had the movie Lagaan play (almost 4 hrs long, but you'll learn how to play cricket after watching), played ping pong and then some party games later on.





Good times this month!!!

Nope, no singing Disney songs, but more reflective today. Finished a chapter that had been haunting me for some time, and at the same time heard that my Great Aunt Dee passed away today. I was extremely fortunate to see her a few weeks ago (May 4) at her home in Oregon. Pics of her and me. Latter one has my cousin, Summer, and her new baby, Kelan (along with Mandi & Brad). Apparently she died peacefully surrounded by family and after she took her last breath, Kelan woke up and started wanting attention (or at least got it - he's a cutie!).


I knew Aunt Dee primarily from our rare family reunions held in parts of Colorado far away from civilization (harder and harder to find there). She taught me to play cards (and bed with pennies) and she and Uncle Bob quickly became a pair of my favorite family members. After I moved to California in '97 I got to see her again, but this time she was living with her daughter, son-in-law & granddaughter (Summer) - all new to me. Not surprisingly, they quickly became some of my favorite family members. Ones I plan to stay in touch with until my last breath.

So cheers to a life well lived and cheers to my extended and lovely family out west. I mourn for (y)our loss, but am excited to follow the growth of your next generation (Kelan and company).

So many things have happened in the past 3 weeks and so much I have to do tonight/tomorrow, but wanted to put a note in for those brave and special few who read regularly. Celebrated Sara's c.college graduation last night with family. It was a very nice evening of food, game, kitties and good company. Left for home at midnight, arrived home at 3:15am with three kitties in tow (one, "TB", got out during drive - which is quite the feat by itself - and she's less than happy with me still). Today was their first day in my home. Need to find home for 1-2 of them, but in mean time I'm providing for them and they're providing entertainment for me (and test of home first aid kit and finding new nooks/crannies I didn't know existed). One such hole is in the fireplace and goes down to who-knows depths of a non-existant fire place in the basement or the furnace (yeah, scary moment there). Also, I left my wallet at the pet store today and went through all locations at home trying to find it (lots of them). Customer found it on check out counter at store - whew!



Day 1. Kitties 2. Kaleb 1.


Momma and her kits:


Also, posted an overdue and requested pic of Frankie who is now adult size. I've never seen a cat with such strange use of his body. He sits upright, uses his large arse as a base and doesn't use his front legs much except to play and swat us with. He still has gorgeous blue eyes, too (not shown here with flash).


PS. Kitty just met Mr. Roomba - stepped on his start button and took him for a short ride before running for her life. Nice way to get ready for bed.

Not mine, but lots of belated celebrations. Sat was a rare (for me, at least!) gathering of cuz's Laura & Chris and their families. Official party was for Ava's 2nd bday. Cute pics abound (will add soon). Parents were busy at rabbit show during the day - an Easter tradition.

On Easter Sunday, we did the belated bday celebration of several Michaud family members who had bdays in Feb & March (including Uncle Rob who has had less birthdays than me, though he's lived a lot longer - the curse/blessing of a Feb 29 bdate). Got to spend time with my parents, grandparents and most of the local Michaud clan. LOTS of good food, played Through the Desert board game, basketball across the street with brand new blue ball (still freezing!), chatted with family, and comforted Frankie (who is going through recovery after losing his front claws and "manhood" last week). Investigated the manly men working on the home-made ice cream in the basement and discovered the machine doing almost all of the work (pic below). Grandma & Grandpa still know how to be the "hosts with the mosts"!

OK, the last time I can positively remember bowling was at the Thai restaurant/Palo Alto Bowl circa 1998 (yes, feel free to correct me if 1) this was my imagination from eating there with George, Aron, Tarek & co or 2) if you bowled me with me more recently). So when offered the opportunity to compete in America's favorite participation sport with relatives I rarely see, how could I say no? OK, I could have said no, as I recall being very bad at bowling. So bad that I once got last place (score of 51) out of the entire KU marching band and I was the only one sober (this was when they were "recruiting" three of us from Haven High (Corey & Jason may not recall as much of that night )).

Yes, I'm building this up because after all this time (and only 3 throws on Wii Bowling), I got the highest score of our 6-member group! Yeah, for those that know me, this will be hard to believe so I've included a pic for proof (I'm KAL, btw). So I'm on a high from this and feeling like hot stuff and so round 2 comes around and the hard dose of reality returns. From 134 to 77 - I have a ways to go still, but for one moment there - on top of the world! Thanks to the family gang for making the night so much fun (Justine, Chris, Emily, Kendra & Kortney) and to those that made the day a hoot, too!

Will have to add more pics later, but Kendra had this power swing that made me fear for everyone else's life - but more than not, she landed the ball down the run way.

One of the advantages of living in NE is having so many family members nearby in Lincoln. I've been making a few trips fixing computers and on Wednesday my Aunt Marlene gave me a haircut at her salon in exchange. Here's a pic from the next day after our monthly rheumatology city-wide grand rounds.

In my attempt to have a life outside of work, I joined my new friend Jessica at a nearby bar on Monday night for kareoke. Mind you, getting there at 7pm (ok, I was 20 mins late) meant we were the only ones there to use the equipment for a bit. Also there were always at least 2-10 others there to cheer/jeer us on. I did 4 songs: Common People, Creep, Hooked on a Feeling, & Major Tom. The last one is what the pic is from. I think it's one of the most appropriately timed pics (even if not that flattering).

So last I was here was after the Big Blizzard! (*rushing wind noises*). Well, it wasn't over so fast. I drove to Kansas City on May 2nd through a closed I29. It was frightening. I had a friend on the phone telling me how horrible it was and that I should turn around and stay home (it was good for keeping me that much more cautious) and the drive itself at times seemed like I was stuck in a zombie movie where all the cars were crashed off the road. Very scary, but all worked out ok!

Had a great week following this. Weather got good, started using the kitchen, went to the zoo (yes! many pictures to come!), and explored more of Omaha's food joints. I've developed this horrible head cold. Today I was mostly useless and went in and out of consciousness at home and work. It's crazy, it reached 80 freakin degrees outside today and I still had a bit of snow in the yard! (ok, it officially was all melted by tonight) And to be sick while it's so nice outside - just a kick in the pants. But the up and down weather of the midwest is back and I like it (I think). Once again the weather guy becomes a local celebrity, known more than any other personalities.

So, last week was mahvalous. Got high on Lucky Charms. Discovered funniest site evah here at icanhascheezburger.com. KU won the Big XII both ways and I've started up the annual college bracket contest among friends/family from all over (if you're interested, let me know - starts Thursday!).

I'm also on a mission - to find white sour cream frosting. NO ONE carries it in New York, California and now Nebraska. But they do carry it in Wichita. Crazy! Got new orthotics in shoes and now feel like I'm walking sideways and got the new DDR so I can mess up my toes by dancing at home cuz there's no one below me to complain, mwa ha ha! Ok, this is all clearly proof that the cold meds are taking full effect again. Ciao 4 now!

This one hit this morning (Thursday) and went on through 3pm. almost a foot of snow. I stayed home for work and at 5:30pm shoveled the driveway. After 2 hrs, all done, but I'm so exhausted and sore. Estimated ~10,000 lbs of snow & shovel was shoveled off to the side. Think I'll hire professionals for next winter - but good exercise! (Pictures to come - too tired)

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")

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

So as my first blog entry ever, I thought it best to provide a recap to one of the most exciting and full years of my life:

Spent the spring in dissertation writing mode and came up for air after my defense in May.

Took a weekend trip to Oregon in June and met up with this grizzly bear.

Had a conference in Amsterdam and discovered that my hotel was in the red-light district (quite the eye-opening perspective!). Lots to see and enjoy especially during the World Cup.

My sis visited in July and participated in Mystery Party 2006. Keeping the theme, Mom & Dad visited in August and we caught views of four humpback whales in Monterey Bay.

Went on a 3-day caving trip to the Lava Tube National Monument and caught some amazing views.

Finally finished dissertation and graduated with my PhD - to both my relief and that of my advisor, Jay.

Went to 10-year college reunion at UR in Rochester, NY where I got to revisit favorite offices, dorms, and friends. Couldn't believe how fast time has flown since school (not to mention all the babies!).

Presented research at conferences in Boston & Washington, DC (ACR without and with Dr. Wolfe), and made several other trips during the fall such that between Sept 20 & Dec 31, I was home for only 3 weeks! There were so many people of note I got to meet and see during this time that I'll spare you (& them!) their pictures, but Frankie did steal the show at Thanksgiving even when he was sleeping. Lastly, at Christmas Dad liked his new jacket especially with the antler accessory.

Whew! What a year!!!