Anderson/Hatgidakis/Nelson/Metcalf: Newsletter

Old news: September 2003

Gary
9/30/03
Okay, time for some more Lord of the Rings news, for those interested. The new trailer for Return of the King, the final piece of the story in theaters this Christmas, has been released to the public. You can watch it here (the picture quality is great!), and after watching it you can do a "save" if you want to keep it for later viewing. (If you are unable to save that one, there is another version of it -- just right-click on this link and do a "save as." It's about a 9 megabyte download, and the quality isn't nearly as good as the other.) Another way to experience the trailer is to see it broken down frame-by-frame by some Tolkien experts, who comment on all kinds of things in the details you or I would miss -- see that here. (Caution! Some surprises may be spoiled!) This part of the trilogy is definitely the biggest and best -- and it's only 78 days away! Woo-hoo!

Lindsey
9/28/03
I just sent in my Halloween costume, just making sure we were still doing it??

Yeah, let's do it! Nobody has objected to it yet. :-) And you're the first, Lindsey. Still waiting for others. --Gary

Amanda
9/26/03
I'll go for the Halloween costume party. Who is bringing the treats? Chocolate please... Gary, did you get 2 recipes? I sent in two, the last was for fajitas, my favorite of the 2 recipes I sent it.

No, only got the one. I checked through all my trashed email for that date, too -- nothing. As I said in my note below (9/22), I'm suffering through an email attack right now. Last week at this time I was getting about 600 emails a day with virus attachments; it's slowing down now -- up to this minute (1:30 pm), only 93 today.... All of which means, it's possible a legitimate email here and there gets screened out or blocked or whatever. Please send it again! --Gary

Gary
9/26/03
Hey, I've got an idea for a Halloween game for our webpage, sort of based on the ever-popular "Who Am I?" Here's what we could do:

1) Everybody finds a picture online of a Halloween costume they would like to wear.
2) I post all the pictures on a big "Halloween party" page.
3) Then everybody gets to guess who is who at the party.

Yes? No? :-) Here are links to some costume sites if you want to browse:

5) Lillian Vernon --> if you're at work, turn your sound down for this one: spooky laugh when you open the page!

If you find a picture on one of these sites -- or anywhere else -- just email me and let me know which site and which costume. Be as specific as possible! If your picture comes from somewhere else, include in your email the URL (web address) too. All the fun of a Halloween party without the hassle of dressing up! :-)

Gary
9/26/03
Oooops! Amanda sent in a new recipe a few days ago along with the pix of T&T, and when I put the pictures on the page I forgot to update the recipe page also. Sorry about that!

Marsha
9/25/03
Cute Trick or Treaters! It feels like Halloween weather tonight, got down to 38 last night and the furnace had to go on. I'm enjoying the Nebraska/Southern Miss game tonight. We are so lucky to have seen all 4 of the games so far this year.

Amanda
9/25/03
I'm a fan of the Teghan pic too, I took two pictures and Tristen and I noticed that if you flip between the two pictures very quickly it looks like she is walking and tossing the pooh she is holding from hand to hand. Just kind of funny, it doesn't take much to amuse us.

Like this, you mean? :-) --Gary

Both the girls wore their cheerleading outfits to school and daycare today, I'm interested to see the reaction they got. At least we aren't playing a Texas team. It was nice that it was during the week though, so that they could wear them, mostly Tristen to school.

Gary
9/25/03
Just heard that next year's Oscars -- you know, the one where "Lord of the Rings" is going to win Best Picture? -- will be hosted by Billy Crystal. Crystal is great, as I belong to the ABW Party (Anyone But Whoopi). Also, the date has been moved up quite a bit (in order to scoop all the other wannabee awards shows) -- in the past the Oscars have been in late March, but this showdate is February 29. Be there! :-)

Donna
9/25/03
That picture of Teghan cracks me up every time I see it. Can you leave it up on the main page till Halloween?

I think that can be arranged, yes! --Gary

Gary
9/24/03
Wow, up in the 80s yesterday (actually kinda hot!), and a frost warning for tonight. Get those plants in!

Amanda
9/24/03
The clown costume was made by Karen, she guessed 20 years ago (yikes). The leopard is still around, a bit too big for Teghan, hopefully next year. Tristen was Pooh once (we got it at the Disney Store), and she hated it, the head was too tight, but Teghan liked it. And we have a ladybug one that Tristen was one year too, like a big fuzzy vest, but its too big for Teghan too. We need to find a wig, some shoes and a nose for Tristen the clown.

Donna
9/24/03
Those halloween pictures are a hoot. I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing Karen made the clown costume for Amanda?? So where is the infamous leopard costume? I would think Teghan would be the right size for wearing it this year. She looks so cute in Pooh, though. Where did you get the Pooh costume? Sam's has some costumes out now--about $15, I think. We thought of Tristen because they have a ladybug.

Paul and Lori
9/23/03
Get well soon Tristen, they will be missing you at school.

Lindsey
9/23/03
Get well soon Tristen!!!

Emily
9/23/03
Feel Better Tristen!!

Grandma
9/23/03
Get well soon, Tristen!!

What a big girl to think of cleaning up after yourself. I wish I was there to help you feel better.

Donna
9/23/03
Two interesting things are happening at Gallup right now. First Gallup is releasing results tomorrow of a poll of the Iraqi people post Hussien. Some of the things asked: Was it worth ousting Hussein, what do they think of Bush and if their life is better now than it was while Hussein was in power. Should be interesting.

And #2, Gallup has been hired by Brown and Root which is owned by Halliburton, selecting truck drivers to drive into the war torn areas and rebuild the cities of Iraq. There are 3 people from Gallup there now--the same three that helped them hire in the clean up of Bosnia a few years ago.

Brown and Root asked for Gallup's help in hiring again as the people B&R selected were more likely to hit mines, drive through less safe areas etc., as for when we helped them, we were helping reduce their accidents and increase their safety by selecting conscientious drivers who had a sixth sense for spotting danger and avoiding it. Interestingly, there was a correlation to non natives being safer because they weren't used to danger, whereas locals had experienced so much danger they were resilient. I'm sure glad they didn't ask me to go--not that they would have. But that's the last place I would want to be--especially right now.

Karen
9/23/03
Tristen, I hope you are feeling better.

That is impressive that she cleaned up, not many that would. Nice fall day here, chilly mornings and warm afternoons -- I love it!!
Good to hear that Hatgidakis are planning another trip to Lincoln, I'll have to check my schedule.

Gary
9/23/03
Hey, I just added a new item to the countdown page, from Marsha, Sam, and Anna. I assumed Lincoln was the destination; the note said simply "Oct. 16 for a visit"! :-)

Donna
9/23/03
Five weeks in Mexico would be so cool. I would want to see the Mayan ruins. I wouldn't think it would be very expensive. Just bring your own water.

Donna
9/23/03
Tristen, I'm sorry to hear you're not feeling well. I hope you're better soon!!!

Amanda
9/23/03
Teghan thinks she is a movie star in those glasses, in the bottom picture she shied away from me, as if I were the paparrazi. Oh, and she is drinking a smoothie, and that is what is all over her shirt.

Amanda
9/23/03
It doesn't feel like fall here. Still hot. Tristen is home sick this afternoon. She went to school just fine this morning and I just walked in the door from class and school called and said she was throwing up, so I turned right back around and went and got her. For those of you with a weak stomach read no more, but if you want to hear a story about a completely selfless little girl, read on... I asked her what happened and she said, "I thought I was going to throw up on the floor, but the teacher let me go to the bathroom, and I got in there and threw up in the sink, so then I cleaned up the sink and washed my hands and went to the office to tell them I was sick." I thought that was so cute, what kid thinks to clean up after themself, especially at school where they know there are janitors, not just moms. She is in bed now, because she wants to be better before tomorrow's schoolday. And she is so sure that "EVERYONE" knows about it. Anyhow, I had a test in Spanish and a test in Music Apppreciation and got A's on both!! Spanish, whoda thunk it? Ryan is trying to convince me to go study for 5 weeks this summer in Pablo (or Pueblo, I can't remember), Mexico. I would get credit for Spanish 3 & 4, which I need, and if I take them in regular session (fall and spring) it will take 32 weeks. It's tempting, but only if they can go with me!

Donna
9/23/03
Teghan, you look like a movie star in those gorgeous sunglasses!

Donna
9/23/03
Ahh, the first day of fall.

Amanda
9/22/03
So it's you Gary, that is making Anger Management a "short wait" from Netflix! I am ready to watch it, but didn't have any movies to turn in last week, and now I have to wait. Either way, I can't wait to see it, we love Adam Sandler.

Never mind, I just checked my queue list and it will be shipping today! Hope to see it by or for the weekend, but this is a big week for TV, the game and new Friends and ER.

And West Wing. Yeah, "Anger Management" is a good one -- it will help you to forget "Punch-Drunk Love." Did for me, anyway... :-) --Gary

Gary
9/22/03
Another email attack is giving me grief right now, so if any of you sent me an email (or newsletter item, review, etc) which has not appeared, please send it in again if you can. In the past three days I have received approximately 2000 bogus email messages, each with a sizeable attachment -- so downloading my email can take hours.... Over the weekend I gave up trying as it just bogged my computer down too much. Yeah, I'm mad at the twisted little mouth-breather, whoever he is, who started this thing; but I'm also mad at the University computer system which still does not have the right filtering software in place to screen these things out. That last wave of bogus email was over a month ago, yet still the doors here seem to be wide open. Aaarrgh! ...Thanks for allowing me to blow off steam. :-)

P.S.: New photos!

Ryan
9/20/03
Hey everyone, I just had to purchase a computer storage device for my Computer Science Class. They wanted me to buy a Zip disk which is just a big floppy. Thats all fine and good but how am I supposed to work on stuff at home if I didnt have a Zip Drive to use my new Zip disk. Well my solution was a new Attache' device using flash memory. I opted for the 64MB size but they go all the way up to 1.0GB size. And its about the size of a large key. The really neat thing about it is it does'nt use batterys nor any moving parts. You plug it into your USB port and Windows automatically recognizes it as a hard drive. It is a very cost effective way for a college student to get homework or projects from one place to another. And you could use it to save any information you would want on it such as pictures, or documents. Just put it in your pocket and you on your way!!!

I love those things, though I don't have one yet. They're very cool! --Gary

Emily
9/19/03
Hey everybody! Well I had to go to the orthodontist today, but they told me I can get my braces off on October 9!! ~yay~ I will have had them on for 2 years and 25 days!!

Yay for you! That's early, right? On the countdown page it used to be not until Christmastime. --Gary

Marsha
9/18/03
Geez Erika, there is NOTHING worse than a mean old lady sub teacher! I hope you are back to your good teacher! We have been quiet because we have been busy with back to school, work and watching all the trees begin to turn. It looks cool when we cross the Mississippi and the banks are starting to change. However, I am envious of Ryan and Amanda being able to enjoy new patio furniture longer than us (way longer). I'm looking forward to a new season of The West Wing. John Goodman as the conservative prez takes over. Watched the John Ritter tribute, very touching, he was so well liked.

Yeah, new "West Wing" next Wednesday! Should be great! I looked around for a Minnesota webcam for the fall foliage page but couldn't find a good one... --Gary

Amanda
9/18/03
Gary, what's the deal with the front page, are you trying to send a message to Hurricane Isabelle? "This is what beaches are supposed to look like."

Maybe subconsciously! I hadn't really tuned into Hurricane Isabel until this morning, when I saw a satellite photo of it bearing down on the east coast. It's huge! --Gary

Lindsey
9/17/03
Donna, it was Reckmeyer, but geez he was well known. Tristen I didn't know you got burned by a fire ant! Erika~ i have had a sub for my sub before--it's kinda weird because they have no idea whats going on!

/Erika/
9/17/03
Today we had a sub for our sub. Our real teacher was gone so we had a sub (she was a mean old lady) she had to leave before the day was done so my 4th grade teacher came in.

Amanda
9/17/03
Maybe I can help you with your fire ants discussion Erika, they do burn when they bite. Ask Tristen. (And me, but I didn't scream like she did)

Erika
9/17/03
Hi every one today we learned about fire ants. They live in Texas when they bite it burns. If alot of them bite you and nothing is done about it you could die. The same with Army ants. Gary the >picture on frontpage on the 17th the flower looked like it had eye balls.

You're right, it does! Weird! :-) --Gary

Amanda
9/17/03
Wow, this Mr. Clifton must have been well liked. I didn't know he was from(?) Nebraska. Impressive. Anyone watching the Clark hoopla? Comments anyone, anyone? (Bueller, Bueller)

I haven't been watching but I am keeping tabs on it via the web. Interesting. He might be the one! Re: Clifton, his influence -- even apart from Gallup -- was big. My office here had several personal/professional ties to Clifton and Gallup. Donna: Chad is unable to attend the funeral (he's going to the east coast tomorrow), but the two head honchos from my office (Barbara Plake and Jim Impara) will be there. --Gary

Donna
9/17/03
Lindsey, what's his name? Is it Reckmeyer? Or Roth? Just curious. I don't know him. I thought the grandkids were all older. It is sad. I'll go to the funeral tomorrow. Everyone is saying to be there a good hour before or you may not get a seat in the main part. They are setting up TV's for the other rooms in the church and they will broadcast it to all the Gallup locations worldwide.

Lindsey
9/16/03
Donna, I just found out today that Don Clifton's grandson goes to my school and is in my drama class so he'll be gone all week. That's pretty sad.

Amanda
9/16/03
Im interested in keeping an eye on presidential hopeful Wesley Clark. He hasn't put in his bid yet, but he may be another Arkansas hopeful to come from nowhere and wipe out a Bush. And I like the idea of a LIBERAL military member (former General). Also, I read an interview where he was asked where he stood on some issues, and he gasp(!) was honest, and said, "I don't know just yet, there are a lot of things I need to learn." Honestly its the first Dem I have gotten excited about.

Actually he is in, just now. Click on the above link. --Gary

Gary
9/16/03
With less than a week left of summer (woo-hoo!), I have added a new feature to the website: A page of Fall Foliage Webcams. I picked 14 cameras from around the U.S. which looked like they would have some good views of the changing colors. (They should be pretty all through winter too, actually.) You can access it by clicking above, or by going in through the regular webcams pages. Happy Fall, everybody!

Amanda
9/16/03
Only you Gary, only you would get caught in that tow truck with that slobbery dog. How funny. Nothing much new here either. And busy, with us all in our 4th and 5th week of school. I got "chosen" to be Tristen's "Room mom" for her class. I will soon find out what that entails. Either way, Tristen enjoys it, and I have two good volunteer things to put on my resume with Girls Scouts also. Ryan is writing a program for his computer class, he finds it interesting. Hot here, 90's today and tomorrow. But we have gotten a LITTLE rain, so things are greener. We got a new patio table and chairs, so it is nice to sit out there at night after the sun goes down.

Karen
9/16/03
Gary, I keep getting a picture in my head of you setting next to the dog in the tow truck with dog spit -- keeps me laughing....

Sorry we've been quiet, not a whole lot going on here. Nice weather, a little warm, but still need a light jacket in the mornings. Have just a few leaves beginning to change colors. I love fall!

No color change here yet, but I'm watching for it! --Gary

Gary
9/16/03
I usually drive home for lunch, as it's only a 4 or 5 minute drive, and yesterday was no exception. I get to check my mail, watch a bit of TV or play on the computer, or even take a quick nap sometimes -- really breaks up the day! Anyway, after lunch yesterday I hopped back in the car (OK, I didn't actually hop), turned the key and ....nothing! Wouldn't turn over, wouldn't even make a sound. Totally dead. Hmmmm, I have a haircut app't at 4, have no food in the house, and I left my office wide open with the computer on. I go back inside, call to cancel the haircut, call work to bail out on the afternoon, and then call a tow truck. An hour later I'm riding in the tow truck, sharing the seat with the driver's dog who every time he barked (which was often) sprayed me with dog-spit. At the shop, my repair guys quickly found the problem: dead battery. Completely dead battery -- not even enough juice to run the door-lock button. So I soon have a new battery installed, I re-scheduled my 4 o'clock haircut, and hit the grocery store after that. Home by 5:30 as if nothing had happened. ...Now unless you quiet ones out there write some newsletter items, I will continue to fill it with boring stories like this one! Fair warning! :-)

Amanda
9/15/03
JUNK. I just realized the first night of all new Friends and ER (which, yes, we still watch) is the same night as our next game. Argh....

Donna
9/15/03
It's a sad day at work today. Don Clifton, the president of Gallup died yesterday. He had been fighting stomach cancer for a long time and had recently been living in a hospice. He died at home however in his sleep. A lot of deaths lately--Aunt Grace, Johhny Cash, John Ritter. Really strange how that happens.

Sorry to hear that! He was an amazing guy. He was a professor here at the University back when I was taking classes, and I spoke with him many times. --Gary

Lindsey
9/15/03
Geez, only 100 days? We still have at least two holidays until then. So then that means that my birthday is less than 100 days away!

Lindsey
9/13/03
Almost time for the football game and I am really excited to watch it. Go Huskers! (Hey Tristen and Teghan--are you wearing your husker cheerleading outfits? I bet they'll win if you do!)

Amanda
9/13/03
That was a very cool article, gave me the chills a little.

Amanda
9/13/03
On the MSN front (home, whatev) page today the first picture is of Lord with the link for College football. Pretty cool... Go Huskers!

Cool link, thanks! Also on the MSN site there is a link to an interesting page on the ESPN site about Nebraska football from an outsider's point of view. It's a good pre-game read. Check it here! --Gary

Lindsey
9/12/03
Speaking of Bush, yesterday in American History we watched the CNN special on 9/11 from 2 years ago in honor of September 11 and I had never seen it before but man it's a real tear jerker! There were people in my class that were crying and my teacher even got a little teary eyed and he's watched for 2 years and watches it 5 times a day! But they really put together a really nice tribute for 9/11. I mean you saw the planes actually hit the towers and I had never seen that as close up as they had it and if you haven't seen it, I would suggest renting it. I don't know if they have it in movie stores to rent, but if you use Netflix (Gary) you can probably get it.

Gary
9/11/03
I know you're going to be hearing lots of patriotic things about our Good King George today, so I will take this opportunity to bring up a few things too:

We have so far spent $79 billion attacking Afghanistan and Iraq, and Bush is asking Congress for another $87 billion for next year.

What Bush calls "one of the swiftest and most humane military campaigns in history" has taken more than 30,000 Iraqi lives. U.S. casualties so far number 300 dead, with a total of 6000 Americans returned home either in body bags or on stretchers with disabling injuries. U.S. soldiers are still being killed, at a growing rate -- now 1 or 2 every day.

The "rebuilding" of Afghanistan has not taken place, and violence is growing in that country. In Iraq, basic services like water and electricity have still not been fully restored (except, as Molly Ivens pointed out, to the U.S.-operated oilfields -- they're fine!)

And lest we forget, Osama bin-Laden (remember him?) has still not been found; Saddam Hussein, to whom a connection with 9/11 has never been established, has still not been found; and Saddam's "Weapons of Mass Destruction"? Still not found, even though U.S. troops have had free run of the country for months.

Since Bush took over the Presidency, 2.5 million jobs have been lost in the U.S., and another 1.3 million families slid below the poverty line ($17,000 a year for a family of four). Gasoline prices have doubled and tripled.

When Bush assumed the office, the U.S. had a $590 billion budget surplus thanks to Bill Clinton; we now have a $400 billion dollar debt, and that can only grow if Bush follows through on his threats to other countries ("The surest way to avoid attacks on our own people is to engage the enemy where he lives and plans.").

And now before the FBI arrests me again, I'll end on a positive note! :-)

Donna
9/10/03
My rain gauge had 3 inches from yesterdays rain. And I heard it was raining again today.

According to the weather page, we are supposed to have rain off and on up through Saturday. --Gary

Karen
9/10/03
Hi, we got home last night about 5:30, had a very good trip home. Been having lots and lots of rain since we got home (not to mention all the rain in Lincoln). Had a nice day in Lincoln (aside from the funeral). Nice to see lots of the cousins.....

Amanda
9/9/03
Why were Karen & Emily & Erika in Lincoln today?

Sorry, should have explained. Today was the funeral of our Aunt Grace (wife of Vern), who died last Friday. --Gary

Gary
9/9/03
It was good to see Karen and Emily and Erika for a little while today. I have one photo from today, plus some older ones. Take a look!

Gary
9/8/03
Thanks for all the birthday greetings, everyone. I took the day off (everybody should get their birthday off automatically, don't you think?), and spent the day at home -- watching movies, reading, napping, and playing on the computer. Sounds dull, eh? Well, it was just what I needed. :-)

Whew, Donna, take a cat to work, eh? In my old building (now torn down) we had the occasional bug outbreak, and once in a while a bat or two would fly out of the ventilating system. It sort of breaks up the day...

Last time I updated the newsletter I accidentally erased an item or two (sorry, Anna!), but I will restore everything when I get back to my office on Wednesday.

Donna
9/8/03
Okay, this is really gross, but we have a mouse problem at work. There was one crawling up the wall behind someone's workstation on Friday. I haven't seen any sign of them so far, but I am keeping my tea, food and cups in a tupperware container from now on. The loading dock has them really bad as well as rats--probably because they are so close to the river. There was also a possom (?) in the daycare. They just moved him to the river. And we have foxes too. Ahh, life on the river.

Paul, Lori, Lindsey, and Olivia
9/8/03
Happy Birthday Gary!

Lindsey
9/8/03
Happy Birthday Gary!

Ryan, Amanda, Tristen & Teghan
9/8/03
Happy Birthday Gary!

Donna
9/7/03
Happy Birthday, Gary!

The Hatgidakis Family
9/7/03
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GARY!!!!

Grandma
9/7/03
Happy Birthday, Gary!!

Karen, Erika & Emily
9/7/03
Happy Birthday Gary!

See you Tuesday!

Donna
9/7/03
Who's Barney Cotton?

I'll field this one, Amanda! :-) He is Nebraska's new offensive coordinator (the guy who's calling the plays after Frank Solich fired himself from that position). Here's an old picture of Cotton (New Mexico hasn't updated its website in a while!), and for comparison here's a picture of Dr. Phil. --Gary

Lindsey
9/6/03
I love those husker pictures and Tristen you look so old in them!!! Yea we have been working in the basement last weekend and this weekend so we were watching the game downstairs and it looks like Dailey is going to be doing pretty good!

Amanda
9/6/03
I meant to write in last week about this, anyone else think Barney Cotton and Dr. Phil may be twins separated at birth?? :) And we said our Dailey prayers here today, decent last half! Can't wait to see Dailey in more plays.

Amanda
9/6/03
Go Huskers!!!!!

Lindsey
9/5/03
Hey everybody! Love the pictures of Tristen and Teghan!

Amanda
9/5/03
We watched Minority Report last night, it was really good. I wasn't looking too forward to it, but I was much impressed, Gary's review says it all (which means, I guess, technically my comments shouldn't be on this page, but on the reviews, ooops!) Anyhow, we did the 2 week Netflix trial and are doing it for another month. They need to offer a free month trial, since the first 2 weeks seem to run slow, and it could really turn a customer away. At first I wasn't impressed with the speed of things, but it got better this last week. As a matter of fact I was having a back and forth email complaint to them, and as of yet I haven't gotten a straight answer... It was just about mail centers, and why I am returning my movies to Houston and not Dallas (about 5 hours closer). Either way, its not a bad deal. If you time it just right you can have a new movie that came out on Tuesday for the weekend, we got both Chicago and LOTR2 by their respective weekends. Its not $19.95, there's tax, and that's crummy, so for me it was $21.60, what's the deal with that, I thought you never got charged tax with online stuff, or at least it used to be that way. Anyhow, thats our deal!

Yeah, my free trial period was only 10 days (there are different offers floating around out there) so I never got to see the complete cycle; and I agree, that was a little off-putting. But a free month? Yowza, that's a lot of movies to give away! And also like you, I was a bit rankled at the "$19.95" showing up as $21.35 in my case on the statement. (That's an extra seventeen bucks a year...) A little like those TV deals where you get something for a low low price and then have to pony up an extra $8.95 for "shipping and handling." But even so, in my humble opinion, Netflix is still way way WAY better than Blockbuster! :-) --Gary

Anna
9/4/03
Well tomorrow I will have finished my first week of high school!! On my first day I got lost a lot but I had a good day. The rest of this week has been pretty much the same. I am really enjoying my high school and my classes. I know A LOT of people so that makes a big difference. Well good-bye for now.

Gary
9/4/03
So, with the temps getting down in the 50s-60s every night lately, I've been leaving my windows open for some great sleeping. Until last night, that is. Around 3:30 a skunk wandered through my neighborhood and apparently stopped right beneath my window.... The stench actually woke me up; and after a few foggy seconds of "What the...???" I leaped out of bed and started slamming all the windows down, and then turned the air back on. By sunrise the smell was all recycled out. Yeesh!

Emily, thanks for the update on your biology experiment. Do you have a videotape of it? Sounds funny! (Though not to the grasshoppers.) :-)

Erika, I had a dream last night (before the skunk incident) that you and I were at a Chinese restaurant having a great meal. Does that mean you are going to visit soon???

Great pix of Tristen and Teghan. I like that Tristen is driving from the passenger side! :-)

Emily
9/3/03
Hey Everybody! Well we have finally finished our grasshopper lab in biology. It was so not fun! It was so gross we had to go outside and catch them and I finally got one, then is started crawling out of the cup and it like got this gross stuff on me, and i dropped him, but then we found some more in the hall, and we finally got them in the freezer, but then when we needed to check on them they weren't dead yet and one of em tried to hop out and he kinda got smashed in the door. Then today, my partner and I were done, and we were kinda freakin out cuz the grasshoppers were jumpin all over and they kept like flyin at me, so the teacher made us go in the other room and do stuff for our lab tomorrow, but we arent going to be working with anymore animals, at least live ones, so it shouldnt be so bad anymore! Well I gotta go get ready for dance!

Gary
9/3/03
New photos from TX!

Gary
9/2/03
When I got out of my car at work this morning, the street was full of students on their way to class, the temperature was in the low 60s, and the marching band could be heard practicing in the stadium. Ahhhhhhh! :-)

BTW, in case you didn't know: the background image on today's front page is Sam's tattoo!

Ryan, Amanda, Tristen & Teghan
9/2/03
Happy Birthday Sam!

Samantha
9/1/03
Hey there eveyone!!!
Guess what I dyed my hair pink!
Bye bye for now!

Nelsons
9/1/03
Happy Birthday Sam, Have a good first day of school!

Mom, Dad, and Linz
9/1/03
Happy Birthday Olivia!

Paul, Lori, Lindsey, and Olivia
9/1/03
Happy Birthday Sam!

Lindsey
9/1/03
Happy Birthday, Olivia and Samantha!

The home page is really cool! Neat greeting Amanda!

Donna
9/1/03
Happy Birthday Samantha!

Donna
9/1/03
Happy Birthday Olivia!

Grandma
9/1/03
Happy Birthday, Sam !! And a Great first day at school!

Ryan, Amanda, Tristen & Teghan
9/1/03
Happy Birthday Olivia!!!

Click here for a special birthday greeting!