Anderson/Hatgidakis/Nelson/Metcalf: Newsletter
Old news: November 2002
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Amanda
11/30/2002
Well, we said our good-byes tonight after a GREAT weekend. They got here Thursday night at about 5:30 and we got right to work frying the turkey and finishing dinner. We ate about 7:30 and chatted until 11 when Dad & Lori went back to the hotel and all 3 girls crashed on the couch bed, where Olivia said, "we don't have one of these, we gotta get one." Lindsey & I got up and left the house by 6:15 Friday morning for a little shopping mayhem. We went to Toys R Us, didn't get any GREAT deals (which I thought might be why Karen didn't go out??) Sears, the mall, and Wal-Mart. We made it home by 10:30 that morning, where we all met up, had some leftovers, made our own salsa and watched that miserable game. Didn't dampen our spirits too much (I think we all expected it) and we went to the hotel and swam. Came home and crashed early that night. Got up today and went to the base where we went to Ryans work and everyone got to look up close with no other people around and what Ryan does, the classrooms, and the jets, the office, where they all found Ryans desk immediately (Tristen & Teghans pictures gave it away I think). Got to get in the cockpit of C-130, that was a crowd pleaser. Then we went driving around town, saw the university and went to the mall, and ate at Buns Over Texas, a build your own burger joint where Livy got jipped by a hot dog cut in half and Teghan grabbed a WHOLE handful of mustard off Lindseys plate. After that Teghan & I came home for her to nap while the girls did some more swimming at the hotel. Then we went out to dinner at On The Border, a Mexican place, and then said our farewells, though only 3 weeks and we will be seeing them again, when we come home. It was a great time, hardly saw Tristen & Olivia and Lindsey was a great babysitter, Teghan didn't cry all weekend, she was well taken care of, everyone fought to push the stroller, Teghan was in heaven. It was a wonderful time, so glad they drove the 600 miles for us!!!! Thanks guys, see you soon!!! Hope everyone else had a great holiday!! Now we are planning the Christmas decorations!
Karen
11/30/2002
Thanksgiving was a great day! So glad you were able to come. We ate leftovers all day yesterday and put up some Christmas decorations. Brent watched the game and wasn't too happy about the outcome. Didn't go shopping early Friday morning, but plan to do some this afternoon.
Grandma
11/29/2002
We had a really great Thanksgiving!! Thanks to all the Nelson's. A really good dinner, I thought I would not be hungry at all yet today, but I just finished a warm and gooey cinnamon roll and it stimulated my appetite, I'm afraid. Thank you, Karen!! Had a very pretty drive, after Honey Creek we noticed every tree, bush and spear of grass was coated in ice or maybe frost, but against the blue sky and with the sun on it was a sight to behold!! Hope the Hatgidakis clan had a good day too? Am wondering are they there yet?? (Paul, Lori, Liv and Linz) I'm sure they are having fun too. Ceaser and Penny came inside as soon as I got home and they promptly laid down at my feet and didn't move til I got to my feet about 10:30, must have had a busy day, as they didn't stir this morning til about 9. GO BIG RED!!!
Gary
11/28/2002
We had a great Thanksgiving at the Nelson house. Lots of good food, games, and nice presents! Thanks Emily, Erika, Karen and Brent! My mouth still hurts from laughing so much. :-)
***EMILY***
11/27/2002
***HAPPY THANKSGIVING***
Paul, Lori, Lindsey, and Olivia
11/27/2002
Happy Thanksgiving everyone
Ryan, Amanda, Tristen & Teghan
11/27/2002
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!
Have a happy holiday!
Grandma
11/27/2002
Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!!
Sounds as if everyone will be visited and well fed. Drive safely!!!
Donna
11/27/2002
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
Go Big Hucksers!
Gary
11/27/2002
Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
Y'all drive safely now! And say a little prayer for the Huskers on Friday!
Karen
11/27/2002
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
Gary, Grandma and Donna see you tomorrow.
Paul, Lori, Lindsey and Olivia -- have a safe trip -- tell everyone "Hi" for us.
Amanda, Ryan, Tristen and Teghan -- have fun with your company.
Sean -- have a nice day with your Grandma and Mom.
Hatgidakis -- what are your plans for the day?
Ceaser
11/26/2002
Sasha, Hey I can't make it down to see you over Thankgiving, Parents are takin the car man, So I'm goin to hang at Penny's call me there, later!
Paul
11/26/2002
Karen, are you going to have the whole meal done by Wednesday? Sounds really good. We are heading to Amanda and Ryan's for Turkey day. Geez, all we have do is show up with a frozen turkey, they are doing everything else. We can't wait, just ask Livy and Linz. Hey Sean does Izzy like to play fetch or something?? You guys were over Sunday nite, and Monday I found like a 8" log of firewood in the backyard all chewed up. Good ole Izzy.
Amanda
11/26/2002
#6, leftovers always taste better. In essence, the turkey isn't "left over," but will have that taste! We are doing the turkey fryer, which sounds GOOD (my first time) and it only takes an hour for the whole process they say. Bring it on!!
Karen
11/26/2002
Amanda I cook my turkey early for several reasons, 1 - today is my day off, 2 - I won't have to get up at 6 am to put it in the oven, 3 - I don't have the mess of the carcass, 4 - I will have more oven space on Thursday. I also made the sweet potatoes and dressing today. More time for watching the parades (#5).
Amanda
11/26/2002
Karen why are you cooking the Turkey two days ahead of time? Just curious... Teghan & I just got back from Ryan's work, they had a Thanksgiving dinner lunch there. We brought cornbread pudding, and was informed in West Virginia its called "coan-po", oooookkkkk, whatever... The meal wasnt the greatest, so now we are even more excited for our own. Tristen didn't go becasue she is in school, though today is her last day, and for lunch today her teacher took the class to Ken's Pizza, since this is the third time they have collected 250 bones (each bone represents a book read at home), the first two times they ordered in pizza, this time they got to go there. Cold one here today, though no snow. Windy! Makes it seem SO much colder. Sunday night is when it turned cold. Sunday day I wore a t shirt and sandals, by evening time I was in a sweatshirt and socks, been that way ever since. The girls finally switched to winter coats yesterday, sheesh, end of November.. It isn't right.
Gary
11/26/2002
We've gotten an inch or two of snow ourselves, and it's still snowing a little now, at 10 am. Big fluffy flakes -- very nice! And this makes, what, our third snowfall before Thanksgiving?? Is this unusual? Or is it that the years when it didn't snow til much later were unusual? I can't remember!
Karen
11/26/2002
We got about one inch of snow last night, so pretty to look this morning and see it covering everything. Have the turkey cooking today and it smells so good!
Donna
11/25/2002
My favorite part of the cool site is the Dorcus collection of menswear.
Donna
11/25/2002
I just went to a new Eastern Indian restaurant for lunch and had my favorite--saag, which is spinach and mustard greens with spices. This was the best version of saag I've tried.
Donna
11/25/2002
I got out my Christmas decorations this weekend and am just about done decorating. Lindsey, Olivia and Mom came over Sunday to help decorate the Christmas tree. They did such a great job. We ordered a pizza, drank pop, baked and ate chocolate chip cookies, listened to Christmas music--it even snowed just a little bit. It sure was fun.
Karen
11/25/2002
Amanda, I'm impressed, boxes in the mail before Thanksgiving!! I'll keep my eyes open for the UPS truck.
Amanda
11/25/2002
Well, last night I wrapped presents and took them to UPS today. So Sioux City and Minneapolis, expect a box, probably not until next week, because of the holidays, but I will get a tracking number and know better by then.
Amanda
11/24/2002
I went Thanksgiving dinner shopping today, everything but a Turkey! Thats my news. Got me even more in the mood, can't wait!!:)
Lindsey
11/24/2002
It has been pretty quiet around here lately. I haven't had time because our MSN wasn't working and then with school and dance and all that. So... anything new with anybody?
Gary
11/22/2002
It's likely that it is not someone you know, and in fact that it's an automatic process caused by a virus. (I'm talking about the kind Donna mentioned, not Amanda's -- which seems to be a website harvesting email addresses so they can sell them.) Some jerk with too much time on his hands has invented a virus that's causing us some irritation here at my office lately. I'll get an email from somebody I know -- say, from "Amanda," and the subject line will be for example, "Teghan says hi." Naturally I would open it. Oooops, they got me -- it's a virus. And now someone I know will get an email -- from "Gary" with a subject line like "Lord of the Rings." Somehow this virus can scan not only your address book but can also pick out a name or phrase from your email that you will respond to. Nasty!
P.S. Just a word about unsubscribing, which Amanda mentioned. Even that can be bogus. For example, I get a spam email selling vacuum cleaners or hair replacement or whatever, and at the bottom they respectfully say that if I would like to be removed from this mailing list to click here... so I do. But what has actually happened was this: they didn't have my email address before, because they sent out a billion emails using a random name generator ("aanderson," "banderson," "canderson," etc.) -- but when I clicked on "unsubscribe" I have not only supplied them with a valid email address (mine!) but they also know I'm a person who opens and responds to email offers. Aaarrgh! The best solution at the moment is to get some kind of email filtering program. My new Macintosh at work has a filter built into it, and it is really very good -- since Tuesday it has filtered out (I just checked) 117 junk mails and stored them in a folder which I can look at every once in a while before I dump them (just in case a legit letter got misclassified). I haven't found anything nearly as good for Windows/PC yet, but something should come along soon. In the past several months the volume of junk mail and spam has increased enormously, so solutions should be on their way. I hope.
Donna
11/22/2002
Amanda, I got one of those a long time ago, so I can't remember much about it, but I never did find out who sent it. I'm betting it's a way to get email addresses they can sell. We just had a meeting with our email guys. They told us to not even open any email with an unknown sender name and to email it to them. They will then prevent it from showing up again. We were told that if you open it and then delete it, the sender knows it's an active address, so it's worth more money. I just got one this morning that said Feliz Navidad and the sender had a real name-so it looked like it might be from someone I should know. It wasn't. Stupid SPAM.
Amanda
11/21/2002
All right, I just got a crummy email. From Someonelikesyou.com, says I have a secret admirer. So I go there, enter the info needed to register to find out who likes me, and the info was a little fishy, my eye and hair color, etc. But I proceeded (I thought it might be someone sending something cute to Tristen) and then to recover the identity of the admirer I had to build a list of email addresses of people I thought it might be, when I got their email address then I would learn the admirers identity, which I never did figure out, and they would give you clues, but only after you entered 5 e mail addresses! HA HA, now there is where they catch you. Now they will email all the addresses I listed, and the thing keeps rolling. So I'm sorry if anyone gets an email, I didnt do too many before I started listing bogus addresses, then got mad at the deal & unsubscribed (wasn't aware that I ever subscribed in the first place). Its junk... Who is behind it? Who is the admirer????
Donna
11/21/2002
I can't wait to hear Tristen's drawl. That's so funny. And hey, Ryan, if you don't like her picking up the Texan accent, maybe you guys should move back home. :-)
Amanda, if you teach her the difference--normal and Texan, it will be like a second language for her. I wonder if that's an employable second language like Spanish.
Well, I'm fixin' to go home now...
Karen
11/21/2002
Amanda, I make rolls from scratch all the time. I just use a favorite bread machine recipe, let it rise in the machine, then form into "rolls," let them rise again for about 30 minutes and bake. I will even make the dough ahead of time and freeze the balls, then when I want to make them I can just take them out of the freezer and thaw, rise and bake them....
Amanda
11/21/2002
Tristen is a Texan already. She's talkin the talk. Last night at dinner we were talking and she said "I'm fixin to go to my room." Ryan went through the roof. I thought it was funny, but counseled her later on how NORMAL people talk. She said she does it at school, and still might do it there. What a goof. :)
Amanda
11/21/2002
Anyone here make dinner rolls from scratch? If so, do you use your breadmaker to knead & or rise? If so, I need a recipe & or advice... Thanks!
Karen
11/20/2002
Well my Thanksgiving menu is pretty traditional -- Turkey, cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, fruit salad and pumpkin pie...
Almost done with my christmas shopping, I too plan to go out on the day after Thanksgiving. I totally agree with Amanda, it is fun to watch how crazy people can get.
I haven't given much thought to Santa.
We don't discuss the Huskers around here too much. Brent even wore an Iowa Hawkeye shirt last Saturday.
Gary
11/20/2002
Here's some movie news: Orlando Bloom, who plays Legolas (the cool Elf archer) in the "Lord of the Rings" movies, has just joined Brad Pitt in the cast of "Troy," the major epic based on the Iliad. Bloom will play Paris of Troy.
Donna
11/20/2002
Ryan, congratulations on your first day of teaching. How's it going? I bet Tristen can tell you what teachers are supposed to say--"no talking in the halls, no running in the halls..."
Be sure to tell us how you like it.
Donna
11/20/2002
I don't know what's on the menu for Thanksgiving. Have to ask Karen since that's where I'll be. I'm trying to think of something to bring--maybe try a new recipe called sticky pumpkin cake. Kind of a cross between pumpkin pie and pumpkin bars. It looked really good.
Almost done with my Xmas shopping. I hope I can finish this weekend as my goal is to be done by Thanksgiving. I already have the tree up, and hope to have Lindsey and Olivia over this weekend to help me decorate it. We did that last year and it was fun. Mostly remember baking and eating lots of Chocolate chip cookies.
Amanda
11/20/2002
Well, I hadn't written anything because no one else had. But here goes..
1. Not sure on the menu yet, but the most exciting thing on our Thanksgiving calendar is the visitors we will be having. My dad and the rest of the gang will be here! Tristen is WAY too excited.
2. Almost done shopping, I'm thinking of going out the day after Thansksgiving, depending on the sales and what grabs me. It was fun last year, and treacherous, but I learned if you go with a good mood you won't get caught up in the mayhem that can occur. It's fun to watch how crazy people are.
3. I'll just be glad for Santa to bring us an uneventful and quick (though that is pushing it) drive home for the holidays...
4. And we down here in Texas land are a little ashamed to be boasting about the Huskers. It gets hard to represent your team so wholeheartedly when they don't give us much to cheer about. Someone asked me the other day if the rumors where true about Solich being fired. Oy, not what we should be talking about. But, as good Nebraska fans we stay true, and don't complain too much, especially down here, where they would have our heads.
And Ryan started teaching his first class today!!! He hasn't been home for lunch yet, so I'm not sure how it is going. But I guess the fact that the hospital hasn't called saying he was admitted due to an anxiety attack is good news. There is another instructor sitting in with him, just silent to make sure he is doing OK. We will keep you posted on his progress. Also, he is in his second week of his History class, and is adapting well, the first class scared him because he took 9 pages of notes, and paid me a compliment by wondering how I can do it full time. Well, that's my contribution!! :)
Gary
11/20/2002
HellooOOOooooo.....? Awfully quiet in here! I just checked: my email IS working, so it can't be that. :-)
How about some conversation starters?
1. What's on your Thanksgiving menu?
2. Got your Christmas shopping done?
3. What do you hope Santa will bring you this year?
4. How 'bout them Huskers!
Gary
11/18/2002
Scaffolding is up on the Rockefeller Plaza Christmas tree, meaning they are decorating it right now.
Also, "The Two Towers" (Lord of the Rings, Part II) opens 30 days from today -- a Wednesday. Who wants to go with me to the first showing? I will purchase tickets beforehand, as soon as they go on sale, and I will get you to the theater. You must provide your own transportation to/from Lincoln, and you must provide your own snacks. Any takers? :-)
Amanda
11/17/2002
There was a spider this big
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about to enter our house tonight. Ryan went out the sliding glass door to check on dinner on the grill and it was on the doorjam outside right at eye level. When he knocked it off and stepped on it it curled up and I saw it from afar and it looked like a leaf, not a curled up spider, it was HUGE. Why does everything in Texas have to be big? The bugs down here are like no other I have seen. We are at count number 4 for brown recluse (sp?) sightings. We have laid down Triazanole twice and sprayed the perimiter of the house twice since we have been here. It's just wrong.
Gary
11/16/2002
Okay, that was one embarrassing football game. No defense, no passing, and no running. We got spanked like a frat boy. I don't remember Nebraska looking that bad since the pre-Devaney days....
Gary
11/16/2002
Attention to all of you who are using Internet Explorer and do not see the "crawl" at the bottom of the front page: I just learned how to fix that. The problem is you have JavaScript turned off. To turn it back on, just go here and follow the easy step-by-step instructions. Not only will this let you see the crawl, but will let you see things on certain websites that you wouldn't have seen before. You're welcome! :-)
The Hatgidakis Family
11/15/2002
HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY!!!
Erika
11/15/2002
Hi everybody you Know the City Hall thats on the project page? Well today a judge came from the museum and picked the 2 best projects and mine got picked. If you want to see it on display at the the museum go in April or March. Hope to see you soon.
Wow, that's great Erika! Way to go! :-) --Gary
Paul and Lori
11/15/2002
Happy Birthday Emily,
Congrats on a really good report card Erika!!
Donna
11/15/2002
Happy Birthday, Emily!!! Hope you have a great day!
Grandma
11/15/2002
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EMILY.
Ryan, Amanda, Tristen & Teghan
11/15/2002
Happy Birthday Emily!!!!!!
Karen
11/15/2002
Happy Birthday Emily!!!
Sean
11/14/2002
Yea, my wisdom teeth came out pretty easy. It took about 45 minutes. The weirdest things was the popping noise you could hear, you know if they didn't give you the shots it would really be hurting! I also had to keep gauze rolls in my mouth for the rest of the day.
Marsha
11/14/2002
Sorry to hear that those wisdom teeth have to come out Amanda, but I bet they won't be so bad. I had mine pulled when we lived in Columbus and our wonderful dentist lived in Dayton (about 90 minutes away). I had them pulled and was able to drive home afterwards. Samantha shows signs of evolution however, in her small mouth x rays show no sign of two lower molars and no wisdom teeth at all! However her canine teeth were buried in the roof of her mouth and with oral surgery they were uncovered for gold chains to be attached so they could be slowly pulled downward and turned into place. They are about to be attached to her regular braces after two years of pulling with the chains. She has spent a lot of time in the ortho chair! Congrats to Ryan on the college scene. Way to go, and I hope you are enjoying it. Erika, your school picture and grades look just great! I decorated two Christmas trees at work yesterday. We are getting a real tree this year. It has been chilly, but no snow yet. We usually get a Thanksgiving snow storm. Just as long as it comes after we get the outdoor lights up and the gutters cleaned.
Gary
11/14/2002
Here's a good article from Salon.com by Garrison Keillor on the recent Minnesota senatorial election. His point about being "Republicans first and Americans second" is right on the money.
Paul
11/13/2002
Had my wisdom teeth pulled when I was about 25. A good friend of mine went just a couple of weeks before me and was off work for a week. But mine came out in less than an hour for the whole appointment, really had no pain or problems at all.
GOOD LUCK KIDDO !!
Amanda
11/13/2002
The tree is up at Rockefeller Center!! Saw it coming in on the news this morning, and checked the webcam and it is standing. I looked at last years newsletter for November and remember seeing the same thing. I am not as much in the mood this year though, doesn't help it is still fall weather here, which is not a bad thing weather wise, but for holiday feelings it dampers the spirit...
Donna
11/13/2002
I had my wisdom teeth pulled when I was about 25. I was really nervous because I had heard all these horror stories. But it was no big deal. Mine were small and had not surfaced either, but they came out without a problem. I had all 4 removed and it only took about 45 minutes. I had very little pain and no swelling. Don't worry about it, I'm sure it will be easy. But you may want to drink smoothies for the weekend.
Donna
11/13/2002
Congratulations Ryan! It's a nice looking campus.
Amanda
11/12/2002
Ryan is officially a COLLEGE STUDENT!!!!
Today's cool site is to the college Ryan is attending (started Tuesday November 12). He is taking 1 class, not even at the campus, it is offered at the base. He is taking History. He is 9 credits (3 classes) shy of his CCAF, Community College of the Air Force degree. A 60 credit associates. Not bad for never sitting a day in a college class yet. 100% paid tuition and books for this deal. He is nervous & excited, but mad because it is Tuesday & Thursday nights from 5:20-7:45, so he will miss Tristen's dance class, however this class runs until just February.
Gary
11/11/2002
Re: Wisdom teeth. I had mine out when I lived in San Francisco. I had heard horror stories from many others about pain, after effects, etc. So I was a wee bit antsy about it. But, truth to tell, it was an almost entirely pain-free experience. I had only a local anesthetic so I was awake through the whole thing. I think the dentist must have given me some kind of, shall we say, "relaxer" because any anxiety I had completely disappeared once the thing started. Felt no pain, but speech was imprecise for several hours after due to numbness. Took several sips of whiskey that night before bed (which may or may not mix with the drugs you'll be getting -- check first!), and slept like a baby. Next morning I was fine, except that my tongue kept compulsively exploring the inside of my mouth, which now felt big enough to park a car in. Anyway, good luck, and I hope your experience will be as easy as mine was!
Amanda
11/11/2002
Well, its time for me to get my wisdom teeth out. I went to my dentist last week for my 6 month cleaning and check up and told her about my jaw aching problem I have noticed in the last month or so, and she thought it was probably my wisdom teeth, so, she referred me to an oral surgeon, and I went to see him today. The top two should be relatively easy because they are totally out, but the bottom two are still mostly under the surface of the gums, so still a bit into the bone. So, that will be a little harder, they will sedate me, and give me Vicodin for the after effects. As of now I have the appoinment scheduled for December 5th, a Thursday afternoon, so Ryan can take off Friday and then of course the weekend. We have pretty crummy dental coverage and out of the $900 bill, I will have to pay almost $600. Don't know where that will come from, but it has to be done, or this pain will just keep getting worse, and like the surgeon said, all the money my parents spent on orthodontics will go down the drain because my mouth is too small for these teeth to come in (mind you as a teenager I had to have 4 permanant teeth pulled to make room). I did learn some interesting things about wisdom teeth though. Who here, for conversational purposes only, has had their wisdom teeth out, and what can you share about the experience? Keep in mind, Im not squeamish, unlike Ryan, who about got sick when I was reading the post surgery care and stuff to him.
Amanda
11/11/2002
Did you hear the new Dubya comment? "If he decides to run for a second term, Cheney will still be his VP." IF???? IF????? We all know that he will run again, for so many reasons, and if he weren't reconsidering, HOW DARE he get us into all these messes and then leave the clean up to someone else? What a smug jerk...
Prediction: Whether Dub's war starts sooner or later, next month or next year, I predict it will be at a real crisis point two years from now -- November 2004 -- which is to say, election time.... --Gary
Lindsey
11/11/2002
Hello to everyone!
Gary
11/11/2002
Speaking of calendars, I now have a working link to another site for the football schedule. (Actually a list of all U of N sports, so you have to sort of sort through the list.) This is actually the main site for the Athletics department -- the site before (which now won't let anyone with an older version of Netscape/Explorer access it!) was for the football schedule only. The site is here if you want to check it out. This Saturday's game with Kansas State -- if anyone is still interested :-) -- starts at 11:30 and is on Fox Sports Net.
Karen
11/11/2002
Hey Gary, what's the deal with the calendar page -- it won't let me on.
Sorry about that. I made a typo. All better now! --Gary
Karen
11/11/2002
I saw the cool site this morning and I remembered when we did walk that trail. I also remembered it was a very difficult walk.
Gary
11/11/2002
Happy Monday everybody. Just wanted to draw your attention to today's cool site. Donna and Karen and I once walked this very trail featured on this site. These trees are some of the oldest living things on earth, some of them thousands of years old and still growing. An amazing place!
Amanda
11/8/2002
What did the Penn state fans do? We don't get much news like that here...
I don't remember the specifics (...anyone?), but I do remember that a lot of fans (and some of the players, I think...?) were roughed up after the game--and not because we won. We lost! --Gary
Amanda
11/8/2002
Didn't you say last week was homecoming????
If I did make such a statement, as Nixon's press secretary used to say, that statement is now inoperative. Homecoming is tomorrow. Never mind that we were home last week too, making one wonder what exactly is "homecoming".... --Gary
Gary
11/8/2002
It was just announced that Steve Martin will host the next Oscars -- only 136 days away!
Gary
11/8/2002
Well, the team may not be so hot this year, but the Homecoming displays are! I've been watching them take shape this week, and they're all finished now. The theme is "Code Red." Go here to see pictures -- and you can even vote on which you like best. (Pictures are kinda small, though...)
P.S. Also on that website is a letter from Graham Spanier apologizing for the conduct of the Penn State fans. (Spanier, as you may know, used to be Chancellor here at U of N, and is now President at Penn State.) Just thought it was interesting.
Donna
11/8/2002
Erika, great looking report card!
Gary
11/8/2002
I forgot to mention yesterday that Erika posted her latest report card on her school page. Thanks Erika!
Donna
11/8/2002
Sean, how can peanut M&M's be your favorite candy? You hate nuts!
Great report card Emily!
I bought my Christmas cards and a Christmas CD a couple days ago. I think I will get them ready to mail. I even want to start decorating but I suppose it's still a little early yet.
Gary
11/8/2002
Another bee-yootiful fall day here today. Looks like the same weather north and south of us, so I hope you're all getting a nice day too.
Just FYI for those who don't know: tomorrow's game starts at 12:30 and will not be televised anywhere.
Amanda
11/8/2002
Yeah, I think that was the same speech where he said, "I know a lot of people won't like it (movement into Iraq) but they sure won't like it if he uses a nuclear weapon either." It was such an OH WELL comment, like, I know HALF this country didn't vote for me, but I've got all the support I need from your elected officials so I'm gonna do it my way no matter what. I saw that last night, what a smug a#$*%&@*!
Paul
11/7/2002
Erika, my favorite candy would be Snickers, and my vegetable would be green beans.
The elections were a real downer for us as well. Even a couple of locals we were hoping for lost.
Heard a sound byte from Geo.W talking about we need to need to move swiftly and forcefully thru Iraq "and we'll do it too." He was actually joking about it. What a goof.
Sean
11/7/2002
Peanut M&Ms, and veggie is Onions.
Lindsey
11/7/2002
Erika~ My favorite candy is probably Heath and my favorite vegetable is potatoes!
Hello to everyone else!
Amanda
11/7/2002
Well, I was going to get on here to brag about the WONDERFUL weather we are having here, but thought I would take a look at the weather page first to see how you all were fairing. And not so badly! Its 72 here now, and only a few degrees less in your neighborhoods. Great weather huh? I am going to walk to get T from school to enjoy it a bit more before I go to the dentist. Erika, my favorite candy is Reese's Fast Break and my favorite vegetable is onions.
Erika
11/7/2002
I need to ask 10 people what their favorite vegetable and candy for a school project. I have to make a graph of the answers.
I have today and tomorrow off from school. I got my report card yesterday at conferences.
Gary
11/7/2002
Anyone who hasn't made their guesses on the "Who Am I" Pets Only game, please do so soon! I'd like to put the results up this weekend -- even tomorrow, if the responses come in. As of today we've only heard from Amanda (Sasha & Zoe), Emily, Grandma, Karen, Lindsey (Caesar), and Ryan. So far our voter turnout is worse than the Democrats!
Donna
11/7/2002
Erika, my favorite candy is Junior Mints and my favorite vegetable is spinach.
You look beautiful in your school picture. Great job on the model--I bet that was hard to do.
Donna
11/7/2002
Here's what Gallup is saying about the election.
PRINCETON, NJ -- The Republican victories in Tuesday's election, which allow the GOP to retain majority control of the House of Representatives, largely resulted from a greater turnout of Republicans than Democrats. The last CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll before the election showed Republicans winning the national congressional vote by a margin of 51% to 45%, virtually identical to the actual voting results, according to preliminary reports. The poll also showed that Republicans expressed greater enthusiasm for the election than did Democrats, and that the projected turnout rate for Republicans was 43%, compared with 36% for Democrats. That larger turnout appears to have provided the margin of victory for the GOP, as independents split their votes almost equally between the two parties.
Man, that's sickening. If even 2 out of 3 registered Democrats had voted (instead of the 1 out of 3), the makeup of Congress -- and the course this country will take for the next two years -- would have been different. "Republicans expressed greater enthusiasm for the election than did Democrats" -- I wonder if that means (after Florida) a lot of Democrats just said, "What's the point of voting?" Gee, I miss Democracy.... --Gary
Grandma
11/7/2002
For Erika-- My favorite candy is probably Russell Stover's chocolates, however, as they are not usually in the house I like Milky Way. I love all veggies, but I guess potatoes are my favorite. By the way, your school picture was great! And the model of City Hall looks like the real deal, just check it out on the webcam.
Gary
11/7/2002
Hi Erika-- On my last "Who Am I" I said my favorite candy was "Ferrero and Rocher," but I think I will change my mind and say Almond Roca. Favorite veggie? I couldn't live without potatoes, but when I thought about your question the first thing that popped into my mind was corn. Is this a school project, or are you starting your Christmas shopping? :-)
Beautiful clear sunny fall day here today. And I'm in an especially good mood as I got a notice yesterday that my copy of the Extended version of "Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring" has been shipped! Woo-hoo! I love deepdiscountdvd.com! Cheapest prices anywhere (26 bucks for this), free shipping on every order, and I will get my copy before it's even in the stores! :-)
Erika
11/7/2002
Hi everybody I need to know what your favorit candy and vegie is. Thank you.
Caesar
11/6/2002
I just sent in my answers for the pet "Who Am I" and it seemed pretty easy. My master Lindsey had to help me type in the keys. (I don't have apposable thumbs.) Anyway, I hope I win!
Lindsey
11/6/2002
Hey everybody!
Hey I just heard about this crime thing. These people were trying to egg Frank Solich's house? There were like 4 eggs thrown that they found. There was one that was thrown all the way over the house into the backyard and another on the side and then one landed on the cement and one like by the car or something. The police were looking at where the eggs were thrown and figured it was Jamal Lord throwing!
Hahahaha! Get it, he can't throw too well! :)
Hey but I'm still a Husker fan!
Gary
11/6/2002
Yeah, in addition to the over-all tragedy of 9/11, one of the unexpected side effects was that it guaranteed that moronic little rich boy would have smooth sailing for the duration of his term. If 9/11 had never happened, by now any number of things -- ranging from the corporate scandals to his own incompetence -- would have brought this little Hitler-without-the-mustache down. But instead, he can now wrap himself in the flag and do whatever he wants, including prosecuting an illegal war. (Only Congress has the power to declare a war, but no one seems to be mentioning that at the moment; of course now that the Senate is Republican-controlled, I imagine it will fall in line with King George II and give him whatever declaration he wants.) Then again...it's two whole years til the next election, and a lot can happen in two years. If this coming war goes badly for him (and how can it not?), then support for him may start to slip; and maybe, possibly, some Democrat somewhere could develop a backbone and dare to talk back to der Fuehrer. Maybe.
Grandma
11/6/2002
I am really disheartened with the election results. WHERE are the Dem's? I think the slide into a dynasty will become a snowball on its way downhill the next 4. I am so sick of his smug little smirk and I can only see it getting worse, not a good day yesterday!! Hope we all don't live to regret it.
Amanda
11/6/2002
Lordy, lordy, lordy, what have we gotten ourselves into? Poor Daschle looked sad this morning on the news. WHY, why, why? I don't get it. Now is the time for Ryan to get OUT of the military and we move out of the country... You know when Ryan got into the military 5 1/2 years ago we NEVER suspected another Bush to gain control, TOTAL control now. Even when he re-enlisted 2 years ago we never thought this could happen. He re-enlisted in October, right before Chaos, I mean Election 2000. It is scary... On to a lighter subject, the furnace. Put it this way, I am glad we stuck it out when we were in contract negotiations with the sellers that they purchase us a 1 year home warranty, because we had to use it yesterday. I'm not sure exactly the particulars, BUT we had to have our whole pilot light replaced in the furnace. The heat was working, but it took a while to light... It is a gas furnace with electric ignition and you could hear it click click click for quite a while. Again, not sure the whole deal. All I know is thanks to us standing firm on the warranty I only had to pay a $45 deductible, where the warranty company will be billed for the remaining $220. Phew!
Paul
11/5/2002
Did you hear about the Texas locker room after the game? Texas players were laughing it up, and the old joke about the N on the helmets comes up. Mack Brown sez Ok, Ok, but can anybody spell it then? After several minutes only Chris Sims stands up and sez "nawlegzz." The rest of team gave him a standing ovation.
Paul
11/5/2002
Amanda and Ryan, what's up with the furnace??
Paul
11/5/2002
Congrats on the report card Emily, very impressive!!
And Erika you could have a future as a builder, very nice model!!
Sorry about everybody's Nebr. flags, they are so easy to get here I take em for granted. Those Texans have to steal em, just so they can have a Nebraska flag?? I have never heard of anyone wanting a Texas flag bad enough to steal or buy, or even getting one as a gift! You can't even give em away. Guess Amanda and Ryan will just have to feel sorry for those poor jealous Texans...
***EMILY***
11/5/2002
Hey Everybody!! We got report cards today!!
Amanda
11/5/2002
Didn't we used to have a Christmas/Birthdays ideas page that each person filled out? I thought we did, but when I wanted to look at it for someone I couldn't find it. No big deal if it's gone, just want to make sure I'm not going crazy.
Yeah, we used to have a "gift ideas" page, but no longer. The problem was it seldom or never got updated. Plus, I know some people didn't like putting up a wish list for themselves. And anyway, the complete profiles page now does more or less the same thing -- it's actually better, I think. --Gary
Gary
11/5/2002
And yet another picture, this time on the projects page: Erika's model of City Hall!
Amanda
11/5/2002
Great photo Erika! Love the snowflake & it matches the background perfectly! Well, we won't be able to vote this time as I explained earlier, BUT it did get me motivated to figure out how & should we re-register here, or vote absentee from Sarpy county in NE (we decided here, since taxes and insurance directly affect us now). SO, I went to Texas Secretary of State website and printed off two of the voter registration applications and am taking them out to the mailbox now...
Gary
11/5/2002
One more new picture on the recent photos page: Erika's 4th grade school picture. (Great picture, Erika!)
Donna
11/5/2002
I voted this morning before coming to work. I was #11.
In my precinct I was #10! --Gary
Karen
11/5/2002
I voted!
Grandma
11/5/2002
Well, I just found out I have TWO plumbers to be beholden to. Thanks to you Paul!! Didn't realize I had a drain problem yet, but sure can tell the difference now. Many thanks to Paul and Sean. Stealing the Nelson's flag when Iowa State beat us, is a new low in sportsmenship. I neglected to hang mine when we played A&M and we won that one so I had it out bright and early last Sat. and must have jinxed us. Am out the door to go to vote.
Amanda
11/5/2002
We usually put our flag up Saturday morning and take it down right after the game, especially these last two weeks, since we played Texas teams. But yes, we are just waiting for it to disappear... We have been used to it though, living on base, there were people from all over the US, none of which cared for the Huskers, we had threats on the flag there too, but ALWAYS flew it proudly... I sadly am not voting this time, I never got an absentee (my fault) and never figured out how to switch to a polling place in a different state in time. But had I switched to here I wouldn't know how to vote, honestly I have NEVER seen as much propaganda and slam political ads as I have here in the last month, all the candidates seem nasty. One guy for attorney general is actually using the fact that he got crushed by a tree while running in college as an ad. Give me a break!!! (PS Gary, where are the photos?? No room??)
Nope, just no time. Photos are up now. Sorry about that. --Gary
Gary
11/5/2002
All new pictures on the recent photos page: Sean sent in some photos of Izzy, and Amanda sent some photos of their new living room furniture. (These all came in a couple of days ago, but I'm only just now getting to them -- sorry about the delay!)
Also, for those who may not know. Lindsey and Olivia have new email addresses: Lindsey's is LinZrae89@msn.com, and Olivia's is spongebob901@msn.com. Try them out! They have also been corrected on the contact page.
Gary
11/5/2002
Boy, the pets in this family are a lot quicker at "Who Am I" than we humans are! All of the answers are in now -- the profiles will go up tomorrow, so be sure to check back then.
Also, this newsletter continues to set records: Our October newsletter was the longest one yet, 23% longer than September, which was itself a record-holder.
P.S.: I voted! Have you???
Karen
11/4/2002
The curse of the Huskers continues in Iowa -- I put the Nebraska flag out on Friday in preparation for the game on Saturday. Someone had taken it during the night. So Amanda, Ryan be careful when you fly yours, we are in enemy territory!
Donna
11/4/2002
Okay, Mojo just sent in his answers for "who am I."
Marsha, I saw the Wellstone memorial on Fox, but then found it on C-Span, too.
I see Bush was in Minneapolis yesterday. I sure hope Mondale wins. Has anyone heard how close it will be?
Sean, you have a really smart dog. You should tape it and send it in to Funniest Home videos.
Grandma
11/4/2002
Good ballgame, even tho' I didn't like the outcome I really enjoyed the game. A big "THANK YOU" to my plumber who sure fixed me up on Sunday. And Sean, I think you may just have the smartest dog in the family. He will be fixing supper for you before long!!
Gary
11/3/2002
The "Who Am I" Pets Only answers continue to arrive. All the critters have responded, except for Mojo and the Hatgidakis pets. If anyone knows of their wherabouts, urge them to fill out the form, so we can start guessing!
Marsha
11/3/2002
The Nelsons surely won for most trick or treaters. 350??? Amazing! Too cold for that many here this year. The pictures from Texas are just great...Teghan is one cute princess, and that Vampiress is sooo scary!! What a ring she wears. Is that really Tristen under there? I did a Martha Stewart magazine jack o'lantern that was a window with shutters and a little carved pumpkin in the window. Turned out well and was pretty simple to make. I liked the Metcalf's pumpkins too -- the N was outstanding.
Sean
11/3/2002
Well, I no longer leave water out for Izzy. I have a Tupperware bowl that I use as his inside water bowl. He plays with this a little also. Well I had just brought him in from outside and I started to do the dishes. He seen me there by the sink with the water running and he went to the living room, grabbed his bowl and set it down by my feet. I filled it up for him and he drank it all! Yep, he's pretty low maintenance even for a puppy.
Gary
11/2/2002
So far the "Who Am I" Pets Only questions have been answered by Caesar, Cocoa, Nicole, Sasha, and Zoe. If you have four feet and fur and your name wasn't mentioned above, please go there and get busy!
Gary
11/1/2002
Take a look at Halloween in Texas!
