Amanda
9/29/07
My gosh Gary, bored? Or just busy? What's up with all the cool sites???
I was waiting for someone to notice! :-) Just googling my name the other day and decided to run some of the more interesting ones as cool sites. Today's is the last one, but I found lots more! --Gary
Amanda
9/29/07
Ryan & his dad got to the raceway this morning & did some looking around. I have talked to them a few times & its LOUD! The Busch race starts at 2:30 I think... They are tailgaiting now...
Amanda
9/29/07
Hey Lincolnites, I've always thought this would be a good idea & I thought it was out there already, just never found it... Might not be a good price for just one person, but for multiple people, could be a good deal! Also, restaraunt selection could be bigger, but it appears they will go to any restaraunt for a nominal fee. Anyhow, thought I would pass this along!
Grandma
9/28/07
I'm sorry you aren't going to make it next week, but that's the way it goes. Things often don't get past the planning stage. Another perfect Fall day, and I am sort of wasting it by staying inside. So guess I will find my pruning shears and see what I can find to do.
Karen
9/27/07
OK, just to avoid any more confusion, we are not going to be able to come to Lincoln next week. We had thought that maybe it would work out. Emily isn't able to get off of work, Erika would miss too much at school and it was just getting complicated. So we will try for another day.
Gary
9/27/07
Anyone for some movie news?
Next summer, Steve Carell stars as Agent Maxwell Smart. For those too young to remember the '60s comedy series "Get Smart," it's a spoof on the James Bond-type films that were so numerous back then. Could be funny. You can watch the trailer and decide for yourself!
Another one that could be funny is "Mall Cop," starring Kevin James ("King of Queens") as a security guard patrolling a mall when a gang of professional thieves tries to break in. No release date set yet.
The next Star Trek movie (untitled so far) will be a prequel, focusing on Kirk and Spock meeting as students at Starfleet Academy. Matt Damon was being considered at one time for the role of Kirk, but the front-runner right now seems to be Mike Vogel. Three other roles have been cast for sure: Spock is Zachary Quinto, Uhura is Zoe Saldana, and Chekhov is Anton Yelchin. No Scotty and no McCoy yet. The movie will be out for Christmas 2008.
Also out for Christmas 2008 is a remake of "The Day the Earth Stood Still," the ground-breaking early '50s science-fiction classic. Keanu Reeves stars in the Michael Rennie role as an alien who visits earth.
A movie is underway about the so-called "missing years" of Jesus (the years between ages 12 and 30 which go unmentioned in the Bible). Titled "The Aquarian Gospel," the movie is based on the 1908 book of the same name which the author claimed he channeled from the Akashic Records. The movie will show Jesus traveling to India, Persia, Greece, and Egypt (some of which will be familiar to readers of Edgar Cayce). The roles are being cast right now, but no word on release date.
Gary
9/27/07
John sends this in:
The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on 'donating a mammogram' for free (pink window in the middle). This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchange for advertising. Here's the web site! Pass it along to people you know.
I have put a link to this site at the top of our links page, to make it easy to click every day. Thanks, John!
Grandma
9/26/07
Sounds like a good plan! Hope you are able to make it, Farmers Market will only be thru October, maybe the week before Halloween, kind of depends on the weather. A real Fall day here and more to follow, should be outside, but not a whole lot to do that doesn't involve work. Emily's room sounds really pretty, and I bet you do like having the computer out of the living room. Sean has invited me to check out the progress on his house tomorrow night. I'm excited!
Sounds like Ryan and his dad will have a nice weekend, am so happy he is feeling better. See you guys Sat. night and the Nelson's next weekend!! Life is good!
Emily
9/26/07
Well, I'm not sure what the plans are now... If we are still coming up. But, we were planning on staying over & maybe doing farmers market the next morning...
I just checked the 10-day forecast: Weather should be perfect! And the game is in Missouri that day, so no football crowd. :-) --Gary
Amanda
9/25/07
Hello! I have been on the computer a lot lately, but not much on here. A friend of mine is having twins in about 3 or 4 months & she lives in Ohio, so I am doing an online baby shower for her! It's been quite the project. I'm using the famed "MySpace" which of course I am too old for, but I needed a website. I actually have been having fun with it & Gary, I appreciate SO much more all that you do on here. html is tricky, and yet intriguing! Anyhow, see what I've done here.
October 5th, well we will be at work & school that day... Not sure what time you will take off, but we aren't free until after about 5. Any plans?
This Saturday, Grandma, Donna & Gary: I think T, t & I will come over for dinner if you have room and food. Ryan & his dad are going to Kansas City for the weekend for the Busch & Nascar races on Saturday & Sunday. Ryan could care less about Nascar, but his dad is a HUGE fan & has never been to a race, nor would he probably ever go if it weren't for this. A guy Cathy knows had tickets (and they are outrageously priced, btw) and we just got to talking about the two of them going, and we did it! They will leave Friday night & be home late Sunday night. So, we'll have a Ryan free house, party! Just kidding, but we will come over Saturday, if thats OK. Olivia?? Maybe a game night, I'm feeling gamey...
(On a side note, what will make Ryan & Steve's trip even better is Steve's latest doctors appointment. Remember back in the spring the cancer came back & spread and it made things look very "un-hopeful," so he went through another round of chemo that just kicked his butt for 2 months. Well, latest check up says everything is good. Nothing has spread & the existing spots stayed the same. Phew... Great news to start out a mini vacation for them!)
Gary
9/24/07
Ooog, leaky detergent... At least, Donna, if you have to have something spill in your car, better soap than almost anything else. It will be "springtime fresh" for a while. :-) I spilled a Coke on my car floor once, and it never came all the way out.
Good article in the Journal-Star on the Ball State game, to those interested.
Grandma
9/24/07
Hey, Karen and Emily, I will surely be here those days!! Tried to call yesterday but you were out. I must admit I wasn't on the web page this weekend, mostly because everyone is not writing. Slow last week for me, no news at all, did lots of reading, and little else. Had a bit of 'excitement' yesterday, got groceries and went shopping elsewhere before we came home and in the meantime a jug of tide was busy leaking. A big slimey mess-- in Donna's car, all the way to the kitchen and so it was not fun! I haven't really cleaned the kitchen floor yet and am still sticking to it on the way downstairs. Such is life. ERIKA, You have my permission to skip school and come along, you are the life of the party!! Hope you haven't changed your plans yet and we'll see you guys in a week or so. Warm and humid this morning but may shower this pm and cool down for the rest of the week.
Karen
9/24/07
I guess from the lack of response of my newsletter on Friday, that everyone is busy that week-end, so Emily and I will cancel and try to come down another week-end. Did get Emily's room painted, have a little more to do on the trim. Brent moved the computer in last night. It looks really nice and it is sooooo nice to have the computer out of the livingroom. I now realize just how big the livingroom is. Also realized that may be the next project for me. After moving furniture around, the walls looked a little beat up.
I wouldn't necessarily cancel, especially if Emily has a day off school! I just think the newsletter is in a slow phase right now, and also it doesn't get read very much on the weekends anyway. I haven't heard of anything else happening then (other than Tristen's soccer game Saturday afternoon, according to the list Amanda posted last month). Unless somebody says "no," I would come down. I'll be around, at least! :-) --Gary
Gary
9/23/07
Amanda sends in this heads-up for tonight. Thanks!
Huskers take on Texas in 'King of the Hill' premiere
The season premiere of Fox's animated comedy "King of the Hill" will pit Texas against Nebraska in the Big 12 championship at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
Despite nearly losing to Ball State Saturday, the Huskers will still make it to the Big 12 championship.
Amanda
9/21/07
Yes, I was proud to read the comments & almost posted one saying Im from Nebraska but lived in Wichita Falls (Iowa Park), yada, yada, yada... But, then I remembered how dumb & hillbilly they all are, so it won't matter!
Saved yourself some time right there! :-) --Gary
Amanda
9/21/07
Hope this article works... Every now & then I get on the newspaper in Wichita Falls just to see what's going on there. Interesting that Nebraska made their paper, and of course we look like hillbilly hicks, to WICHITA FALLS, TX!
Ever since Ernie Chambers got national attention with this, I've been watching the way it plays out in the press. It's a good example of how the press works, and will teach you to be skeptical of what you see in the media. As all we hillbilly hicks here know, Chambers did this as a dramatic way to demonstrate that anyone can sue anyone (after a local woman was told she couldn't sue a judge who had given her unfair treatment in a trial). But nearly every non-local story I've read on it treats it as "Dumb Local Senator Thinks He Can Sue God." At least some of the people in the "Comments" section following this story got it right. Thanks for the link! --Gary
Karen
9/21/07
Finally Friday! Been a long week, and we are looking forward to the week-end. I have a painting project to do tomorrow. Now that Emily has left, we are turning her room into an office/spare room. Once all of her things were out of there I realized how badly it needed to be painted. I am painting it a dark slate blue with white trim. Can't wait to get the computer out of the livingroom!! Emily and I are thinking of making a trip to Lincoln in a couple of weeks. We both have Oct 5th off of school (Erika has been offered to take the day off and join us, but is still undecided). Brent needs to get a few more hours for his work so he needs an empty house to take an online course. So we thought we would head to Lincoln -- will anyone be around the 5-6?
Gary
9/21/07
The football game tomorrow is not expected to be a nail-biter, but those who want to tune in anyway can do so here:
--Lincoln: KLIN (1400 AM), or KFGE (98.1 FM)
--Sioux City: KMNS (620 AM)
--Minneapolis: WMIN (740 AM)
Or, listen online via Huskers.com. You have to register for this, but it's free.
Speaking of free, the folks at MoveOn.org just got some free advertising thanks to our Commander-in-Chimp George Bush and and the spineless U.S. Senate. MoveOn put an ad in the New York Times which criticized Bush's tame general Petraeus for lying about the situation in Iraq, so Bush threw a little tantrum and called the ad "disgusting"; and the Republicans in the Senate chimed right in and voted to censure (whatever that may mean) MoveOn, and they were joined by twenty-two cowardly Democrats (including Nebraska's lovable Smurf, Ben Nelson). And then the fun began: MoveOn was inundated with cash contributions. Within the first twelve hours, they had received over half a million dollars. :-) That's enough to buy another ad, MoveOn!
UPDATE: After writing the above, I learned that MoveOn will run another ad, in next Sunday's NY Times. Unlike our elected representatives, MoveOn did not back down but came out swinging! See the ad here, and please pardon the language. :-)
(By the way, there's a typo in the final paragraph of the ad: "has an" should be "as an." I emailed MoveOn about it; hope they have time to fix it!)
UPDATE UPDATE: Just found out the ad isn't really going to appear. It was put together by a political satirist. Fooled a lot of people (including me)! It's just the ad that should appear, though -- every word is true....
The Hatgidakis family
9/20/07
Postage stamp, 41 cents.
Hallmark greeting card, $4.99.
Ryan's response letter...priceless!
Donna
9/20/07
Ahhhh Ryan, what an adorable song. Cute video too. And you're bashing American Pie and Jingle Bells??? What are you, a communist? Those are great songs--you want those to play over and over in your head, don't you? I think we all know what to send to T&t from now on. Ooooh and Ryan's birthday is coming up. This could be fun...
Amanda
9/20/07
Is anyone getting the pay per view game? I hear next weeks wont be available on tv, not even pay per view. We won't get it as Ryan will be at work...
I haven't heard of anyone planning to get it. I know Grandma opted to pass on it. --Gary
Amanda
9/19/07
Donna was wondering about the Grab Bags schedule. Here it is!Ryan
9/19/07
A much deserved appreciation goes out to the Hatgidakis family tonight for their gift of a musical card to our daughters this evening. Let me begin by expressing how excited both Tristen and Teghan were by receiving mail. They ran through the living room with such enthusiasm similar to Christmas Day. As Teghan began to open the card, I could see thoughts running through Tristen's mind while standing over Teghan's shoulder of what their letter could contain. Once the envelope was opened and the girls were able to see it was a card, Teghan opened it. But what came out? Let me describe it by saying "deebee-dee-ba-dee-ba-doo-da da-dee-ba-dee-ba-doo dee-ba-dee-ba-dee-ba-da-doo."
I thought to myself what kind of satanic music could this be. But wait it gets better!!! Once you open the card the "music" starts. Then you close it and its all peace and quiet again. However, we have a 5 year old that loooooves to open and close the card which makes the "music" start and stop over and over!
This isn't just a tune that you can get rid of either. It likes to stick in your head like "American Pie" or "Jingle Bells." Even while gathering wood tonight, I couldn’t get the song out of my mind. I BELIEVE IT WILL DRIVE ME CRAZZZZYYYYY!!!!!!!
So let me conclude. Thank you John, Marsha, Zach, Sam, and Anna for your deliciously wonderful "Hamster Dance Song" singing card. I have already listened to it 20 times in the last 3 hrs. I believe there will be many more times to follow before the conclusion of the night. Until the batteries run down and the "music" becomes garbled, I believe that I will listen to the sardonic musings of "The Hamster Dance Song" over and over and over!!!!
Gary
9/17/07
Attention Keith Olbermann fans: no Keith for a while. He had an emergency appendectomy on Friday. Report is he's doing fine, and expects to back hosting Countdown sometime this week. Someone on one of the Democratic sites I go to plans to to send him a card reading: "If Alberto Gonzales comes into your hospital room, DO NOT sign anything!!" :-)
Gary
9/17/07
For those Husker fans among us who are concerned about the number of records that have come to an end in recent years, you should know that we set a new one at Saturday's USC game. Worst performance ever by a Nebraska defense, allowing an average of 8.2 yards per play. True, we were playing the #1-ranked team and perhaps not many other defenses could have done much better, but still... ouch.
Emily
9/17/07
haha! I love the crawl for today. It was actually in the text book for my logical thinking class and we had to analyze it as an argument.
For future reference it is: "Question: If you could live forever, would you and why? Answer: 'I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever.' --Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest" :-) --Gary
Gary
9/14/07
So after letting Lindsey know I would bring the Oscar to Grandma's on Saturday (see below), I went ahead and forgot it anyway and left it in my office. Knowing the campus would be crazy all day Saturday, I thought I'd better go get it Friday night (at 10:30, just an hour ago as I write this). News flash: Campus was already crazy. Many outdoor parties at the fraternity and sorority houses, including one actual toga party. (Didn't know people still did those, if ever.) Many of the campus-adjacent bars and hotels had outdoor parties going on too, in spite of the temperature -- a chilly 54. Anyway, people were partying like we'd already won the game!
Grandma
9/14/07
I love the 'tunnel walk' video! Brings tears to my eyes! GO BIG RED!
Amanda
9/14/07
Wow, the Youtube thing was very cool! I get chills when I hear the tunnel walk music. I miss the tunnel walk almost everytime I go to a game because I'm running late. Watching that reminds me to be on time for the next game!
Gary
9/13/07
As nobody has mentioned the beautiful weather here recently, allow me: The weather is beautiful! Just in the past few days, we have gone from "too hot" to "just right." Saturday's game-time forecast: upper 50s, possible showers.
Attention Lindsey: The Oscar is now officially yours -- at least until next Oscar night, February 24! I'll be over at Grandma's for the game on Saturday, and will bring the Oscar with me then. You can pick it up from any time then on.
Amanda
9/12/07 Open now, just minutes from Grandma's house. Yum!
Lindsey
9/11/07
Good lord thanks for reminding everyone Amanda! Just kidding ;-)
Amanda
9/11/07
In light of "Patriot Day" I went back & read the newsletter from September 2001, and even into October... Interesting... Funniest though is 11 year old Lindsey...
Eeeuw, are they really calling it "Patriot Day" now? Hadn't heard that before. --Gary
Amanda
9/8/07
Sheesh, Gary, Happy Birthday! Sorry we didn't post yesterday! We went to the farmers market with grandma first thing, then brought her to our house to see the progress on our fence, then Tristen had dance, then we helped Sean at his house all afternoon. Busy day! I didn't get on the computer once all day, which I don't think I've done in years!
Hope you had a good birthday!
I did, thanks! --Gary
Anna
9/8/07
Sorry it has taken me so long to write in. Okay I will start with the California trip. It was really fun and we did a lot more then I thought we were going to. We went to the Bad Lands, Big Horn Moutain and when we were there we got stuck in a really bad storm. It started off with a really cool lightning storm, but then it got more severe. We were at about the top of the mountian when the lightning storm started then about 15 minutes later we could not see in front of us. We made it down safely but it was intense. We also drove through Yellowstone. That was great. A bison came up to us when we were driving. Then we stopped in Portland and then made it to California at last. It was a beautiful drive from start to finish!
Now school. I have four classes and mainly enjoy two. I have Reading, Academic Development, English and Sociology. In English I am not too impressed with the teacher and there are a few too many adults in my class and so far Sociology is a bit boring. I have it for 2 hours and 40 minutes on friday. So we fit a weeks worth in a day. But so far so good.
Gary
9/8/07
Wow, big news this morning from Chuck Hagel. Says he will retire from the Senate, and won't be running for president. Maybe someone has offered him a VP-spot...? Or maybe later he will be convinced, reluctantly, to leave retirement and run for president...? Or maybe he's actually retiring.
P.S. Thanks for the birthday greets! :-)
Paul, Lori, Lindsey, Olivia
9/7/07
Happy Birthday Gary!
Donna
9/7/07
Happy Birthday Gary!
The Hatgidakis Family
9/7/07
Happy Birthday Gary!!!!!
Grandma
9/7/07
Happy Birthday, Gary!!
Nelsons
9/7/07
Happy Birthday Gary
Karen
9/6/07
Sean, Congratulations on your new house -- I would love to see pictures when you get some. Gary -- I think the spiders are bad this year. We must have had at least 4 or 5 in house already. We also have a huge web outside the back door. I knock it down and the next day it's right back. Amanda -- did you get your fence put up yet? Anna -- how is school going? Ryan -- jury duty?? How is it going? Emily hated it! We all seem to be keeping busy with school. Not doing too much else lately, just trying to get back into the routine. Erika is doing great at school and should start dances next week.
Donna
9/6/07
Hey Sean, are you moved in yet? Tell us about your new house and trip to Texas.
Gary
9/5/07
FYI, Sean sent has updated the contact page with his new email and street address. Thanks, Sean!
Donna
9/4/07
Gary, your story reminded me of something I read about a week or so ago. There's a park in Texas where they just discovered a huge spider web that spans several trees. What kind of a spider would make a web that big? When it was first discovered, park goers said it looked like a mist but it's since become dark from all the bugs it catches. It made me think of that spider in Lord of the Rings.
Yeah, this spider clearly intended to build a big web -- as high as a house and six or eight feet wide. I'm glad he didn't get to finish! :-) --Gary
Gary
9/4/07 New pics! Thanks, Lindsey! (And Livy!)
Gary
9/4/07
Quick story, mostly for Grandma's benefit as she witnessed the first part of it: On Saturday, after watching the game at Grandma's house and then enjoying a great supper of baked tilapia and fettucine, I left the house and headed for my car to go home. As I walked past the corner of the house (with the porch on my left), I suddenly felt this sticky-crackly something all over my face and head. In the dark I had walked through a huge spider web, which some industrious spider had slung from the rain gutters above left down to the ground below right. As I stood there spitting and brushing, Grandma said in the past few days she had walked through one on that spot and so had Ryan. Bleah. So, I got to my car, opened the door and tossed my black bookbag onto the passenger seat. And a big fat mouse-colored spider, the size of a half-dollar, jumped off the bag and landed on the driver's seat. I lunged at it and tried to swat it out the door but only knocked it to the floor; I swatted at it again, but in the dim domelight couldn't tell if I had knocked it outside or not. So I drove off, twitching and slapping all the way, waiting for it to crawl up my pantleg.... And just before I got home, the thought struck me: How do I know there wasn't more than one spider...? (Twitch!) And this one is maybe on my shirt right now...? (Slap!) I guess with this little creep-out I started Halloween early!
Ryan, Amanda, Tristen & Teghan
9/2/07
Happy Birthday Sam!
Grandma
9/1/07
Happy Birthday, Sam!!
Amanda
9/1/07
Well, not sure who heard or not, but Sean didn't get to close on his house yesterday. The paperwork wasn't done. I loathe title & mortgage companies. I have never heard of a closing going smoothly. And my story of all time to back it up is our house. We were in the building process for 6 months, and the closing date never changed, and yet, the paperwork wasn't done. 6 months! Who can't get paperwork done in 6 months!
Anyhow, so now its noon on Tuesday I guess. Cross your fingers. It may have been for the best though, as he took off on his flight at about 6:30 this morning for Houston until Monday night to go to the baptism of his godson (one of the twin sons of a longtime friend of his).
I worked the fair again yesterday and then we walked around afterwards with Ryan's parents & Tracie. Great weather for it! And I got to stay home from the office that morning & be with Teghan before school.
Today is the fence project. Yea! Tonight we have a wedding to go to...
Tomorrow I work the last of the fair, then I have Monday & Tuesday off. Ryan has jury duty Tuesday!
Donna
9/1/07
Happy birthday Samantha!!!
Ryan, Amanda, Tristen & Teghan
9/1/07
Happy Birthday Olivia!
Donna
9/1/07
Happy Birthday Olivia!!!
Nelsons
9/1/07
Happy Birthday Samantha
