Norfolk, USA

The very first time I visited I visited Norfolk, Nebraska there was a large sign as you drove into town declaring it to be the hometown of Johnny Carson. Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see it the last two times I went there. I think it's kind of sad.

Anyways. This post is not about Johnny Carson, or even Norfolk, Nebraska, it is about visiting with friends in Norfolk. Saturday I had nothing going on, I finally got hold of InsaneElf, and I decided to put together a spur of the moment trip to meet RockinRobin and family in Norfolk, which is more or less halfway between where I live and where they live.

Have I ever mentioned that organizing my friends is a little like cat-wrangling?

After approximately 46 phone calls, we had it together. I would pick up Mae, go and get InsaneElf, and head to Norfolk to meet RockinRobin, Tim, and Baby Daniel at the Super Buffet at the west edge of Norfolk. Bonus! Tim's friend Amy was heading to O'Neill to visit them on Saturday anyways, so she would meet us there too.

InsaneElf expresses her feelings when I told her no, I would not drive backwards down the expressway.


We got there early, and I somehow got sucked into a shopping extravaganza with Mae and InsaneElf. The Elf did not buy this hat, but she did get some cool felt bottom shoes. Mae got one of each of everything in the store.


Daniel thinks "Chicks dig me!"


Amy gets a little to close to the scruff, and she spent the next 20 minutes itching her face.


Daniel knows who is the bestest uncle ever.


InsaneElf and RockinRobin try to outduel each other for cutest smile.


After we finished dinner, we crashed the local Culvers for ice cream and a quiet game of Apples to Apples in the corner.

The best part of the trip was this was InsaneElfs first chance to see baby Daniel. Amy came up with the idea of us all crashing a hotel in Norfolk and spending the weekend, watch this space for a future adventure.

First Zoo Trip of the New Year

For those of you who are readers of my blog who don't live in Omaha.

1. No, I don't live at the zoo.
2. Yes, Omaha has an amazing zoo.
3. Yes, there is more to do in Omaha than just the zoo.

Last Thursday SmileChild and I took went to the zoo as an excuse to hang out and talk about life, liberty, and the pursuit of God.

This picture was taken to taunt, I mean put a smile on the face of ErinOneDay while she was at work.


Viv is still not friends with this guy.


SmileChild is friends with this guy.


Softshell Turtle? I'd hide too.


I like to feed the peafowl. I won't feed them by hand, cause I figure I'll get pecked, but I will put a piece of bread on my shoe watch them nervously come and get it. I put a piece of bread on SmileChilds shoe, and was so entertained by it that I made a bread crumb trail going between SmileChilds legs to see if I could get one of the peahens to follow it ... she did, much to our mirth. The peacock pictured was hanging out in front of the aquarium door trying to get into the building.


Sugar gliders are so cute, SmileChild actually said "aw" out loud, but then again, she also likes the naked mole rats.


If you look in the upper right hand corner of this picture, you will see a webcam that is controllable. Guaranteed to be about ten minutes of fun, until you get bored with it.


This picture is for YouGetALife, there are two sea turtles in the "shark tank". There was a funny moment when the two sea turtles were swimming in opposite directions and almost collided, one turned sharply into the underbelly of a shark. I guess they don't have good eyesight.


Time to say goodbye!

Thanks to SmileChild for some liberal lifting of copyrighted material.

Happy New Year (pt3)

Party Party Party. I'm going to party like it is New Years Eve, um, because that is what it was. The evening started off with a trip to the Great Adventures 80s in 08 party.

I lived through the 80s, and remember it. There were some bright colors, but I don't remember my eyes hurting so much from it, fortunately there are three pretty faces to look at.


This is the true spirit of Jenny Jitterbug. Last seen dressed up as Madonna.


Rock Band is the toy. Here I am giving a try at singing. Anyone want to guess why I don't have a voice right now?


Katie and SingingMonkeyGirl got the look right, which is odd because I don't know if either was alive during the 80s.


Azur & Bethany are doing something here, I think it's posing for a picture.


Here is one of Viv's New Year traditions, caught on film last year too.

After a couple hours there, a quick change of clothing, and I headed over to the Jitterbugs ball.

Viv was looking so nice.


Little Debbie tried to wear a long dress so no one could tell she had her dance sneakers on. Almost.


Of course Spanky doesn't care who sees what shoes he is wearing.


Takashi sang, but it wasn't Mack the Knife, it was Splish Splash, and it was fantastic.


The balloons came down at midnight.


Well most of them anyway.


Hey, it looks like this charming young lady is looking to plant a New Years smootch on some good looking older man ... um, like Dan or Cliffo.

After all of the balloons had been noisily popped, it was over to Spanky & Maes for some more...

... um ...


Rock Band!!!


When our fingers started to hurt and we were hungry, we went upstairs and played a game called Last Word. We let Little Debbie read the rules and then played how we wanted to.


The results were predictably hilarious.

2007 was not the best year I ever had, but I am just blessed beyond blessed with so many good and beautiful friends who were there with support and prayers ... you are the reason I love life.

Happy New Year

Much thanks to SmileChild, Cliffo, and Cornstalker who lent me pictures to tell this tale.

Happy New Year (pt2)

It was a rough holiday season this year for me. All the changes going on in and around my life. Having to spend my saved up Christmas money on new tires for my car. The general feeling of disconnectedness I have had from the church, all left me kind of blah. So I guess it wasn't so rough as it just wasn't special like it has been in the past few years.

That being said, I still managed to cram in some fun. I did the traditional (for me) visit to Vivian's parents house.

Viv says "I don't care how tired you are, you can't use my lap for a pillow, you, um, drool."


They put these out for snacking, I think they are the larva of giant fruit flies.


Using the Strengths Finder quiz, Viv found out one of her strengths was "Includer". Here she is trying unsuccessfully to include herself in this picture.

After dinner and gifts we played Cut Throat Solitaire, and amazingly I did not win, however there may have been some confusion about the rules by the winner of the game, so it could have been a tainted win.

We also did the "stocking" thing that is a tradition in Viv's family. I think it is growing on me, I enjoyed it this year. The meal was wonderful, as was the company, much thanks to Viv and her parents for having me over.

Happy New Year (pt1)

Happy and Blessed New Year to All.

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I have a little catching up to do ... it's true, I'll have some pictures of the holidays up soon enough, but in the meantime some news.

Christmas Eve I was hanging with Spanky while he played Mass Effect on the X-Box, and I could not stay awake. I kept drifting off, and then pop awake and wonder what I missed in the plot-heavy game. I went home about 2:00am and, naturally, I could not go to sleep.

Well it has lasted over a week. Since that time I have slept longer than three hours exactly twice. Last Thursday evening from about 5:00pm to 9:00pm, and last night from about 2:00pm to 9:00pm (finally). Most of the time I have been sleeping from 90 minutes to 2 hours and then waking up. I can't go back to sleep, so I just get up. I try again in a few hours, so I've basically been taking two or three short naps a day for a week.

Since I've mentioned on my blog before that not sleeping is my freak out, one would expect me to be a wreck. I'm not, I am functioning surprisingly well. I will admit to being spacier than usual, but nothing bad. Everyone has been very helpful and concerned about me asking questions about stress and diet, giving sleeping tips, and sharing personal experiences. This is been much appreciated, however nothing seems to have made a difference. All of my sleeping tricks work, but I don't stay asleep.

Hopefully, if last night was an indication, I will have no more troubles.