2009 Onion Awards

For those of you who have never experienced the Onion Awards. These are highly coveted awards given every year in arbitrary categories chosen at random by a highly suspect respected panel of The Onion Skin News editors.

If 2009 had a road map, I would be all over it. As frankly as I can possibly be, I will NOT be sorry to see this decade pass away. Here is to 2010 and the twenty-teens!

Pet Awards:

• Identical Twins From Different Mother's Award: Lucy and TB. You can tell them apart in person, TB is, um, bigger boned.
• Most Likely To Sit Stubbornly In The Snow (3rd year in a row, sort of) Award: Zeke. Hanging out on the apartment deck railing during an epic snow event? Not the smartest cat ever.
• Headbutting Award: Jinx. It's so cute.
  
• Ever Since He Was A Kitten Award. Danny. Okay, so only by a technicality is a two year old child not a pet, but he sometimes acts like a cat.
  
• Gratefulness Award: This is the first entire year in quite a while that I have not had to put a beloved pet down.
  

People Awards:

• Eye Blinding Monochromatic Outfit Award: Jenny. Her outfit at the Jitterbugs Pink Party gave new meaning to over the top.
  
• Magic Carpet Blanket Award: Merinda. She went for a ride on a blanket at Halloween and didn't stop until it was legendary.
• There Was No Cheating Involved Award: Me. I took what was on the ballots and tabulated them up for the Chili Throwdown, volunteers now being accepted to tabulate next years event.
• Hairstyle of the Year: Kevin. I like the long curly look ... feral.
  
• Totally Approve Award. Kaleb. Rachel is a winner, keep her.
• Camera Kicker Award: Sarah S. My camera strap broke, I didn't catch it in time, but brilliantly stuck my leg out to prevent the camera from falling to the ground more than a few inches ... just as Sarah swung her leg through while walking and kicked it 20 feet down the cement trail.
  
• Toughest Job Award: Lisa. I really wouldn't want to be on that customer service line.
  
• Employment Prerequisite Quote of the Year: Ben R, who said "I am a D.J., teach guitar, and am in a rock band. Drinking isn't just expected, it's desirable." (quote more or less accurate).
• We'll Cry In Our Bears Beers Together: Me, Frank, and Joe. Our team has just looked bad.
  
• More Cowbell Award: Bethany at Troy and Merinda's Halloween party.
• Subway Commando Award: Jillian. Move back already.
• Persistence Pays Off Award: Me. VK finally admits I'm her boyfriend.
  
• The Wrong Directional School Award: Joe. That's Southern Illinois, not any other.
  
• Put That *@#!* Camera Down Until I'm Ready Award: Brianne. I don't have any idea what she's complaining about.
• Invisible Dance Partner Award: Maeg. Vampires don't show up on film.
  
• Making Ukuleles Safe Everywhere Award: Becky. She makes her soft voice and ukulele command attention at her shows.
  
• Names of the Year: Sarah and Ben. I'll leave it up to the reader to determine which one I am talking about, it's the second year in a row, but the same people didn't win this year.
• Surprise Central Award: Kat. You just don't know what's next.
• Did She Move Away Or Not Award: Liz. I'm still confused, I'm sure she said she left, but I see her more ofter than some of my Omaha friends.
  
• Need A Frickin' Laser, Almost Award: Corinn. She has a hat with a killer whale on it.
• Audrey Hepburn Lookalike Award: Sarah H. She showed up at Cowtown looking tres elegante.
  
• Knows What A Man Really Wants Award: Lee. She makes some tasty treats, it must run in the family.
• Hale and Hearty Award: Mark. Looks 'well preserved' for a man of 108 years old.
  
• Mushiness Award: Keith and Jenny. This title has been stolen from Matt and Vivian.

Dance Awards:

• Welcome Back Award: Robin. I think she is going more often than I am to JNO.
• Event of the Year: Cowtown Jamborama. Was there any doubt? Yes, Cowtown Jamborama is my Facebook friend.
• You Can Get Paid For This Award: Me and Maeg. We got our first paid teaching gig!
  
• Michael Jackson Memorial Dance Award: Doing the 'Thriller' dance at Merinda's Halloween Party.
  
• Surprise Dance Fun Award: Me, Troy, Merinda, Maeg, Dan, and Margaret. We got paid to dance at a private party, to the Prairie Cats.
• Non-Swing Dance Award: The Hula dance at Jenny and Becky's Luau party.
  
• Long Awaited Dance Space Award: The opening of the Nothnagel basement in February.
  

Moments Awards:

• Best 21st Birthday Since My Motorcycling Adventure Award. Ben C. for turning 21 and Merinda for turning a interesting night into an unforgettable one ... unless you were the one drinking.
• Wine Tasting Don't Drive Award: Matt and Vivian. Too bad no one lives in walking distance to a Hy-Vee any longer.
• Best Birthday Party Award: Venche. At Soaring Wings Winery, perfect weather and great jazz.
• Most Creative Party Idea: Matt and Vivian. The cheese party was creative and fun.
  
• I Didn't Do It Award: Me. My character at the latest installment of Troy and Merinda's murder mystery parties wasn't the villain, in fact more like the hero.
• Beat The Heat Award: 108F outside? No problem, go camping at Fremont Lakes and stay in the water for four hours straight.
  
• I Knew He'd End Up In Jail Award: Me. I was arrested and sent to jail during a fish fry in a complete misunderstanding. At least the cop was cute.
• Can We Throw Your Couch Off Your Deck Award: Matt. It turned out to be much easier than moving down stairs.
  
• Largest Sushi Ever Award: Me. Kaleb had a sushi making birthday party and I got carried away.
  
• Memorial Stadium Construction and Destruction Award: Building gingerbread houses at Jenny and Becky's Christmas party and then knocking them over with marshmallows.
  
• Blood Is Thicker Than Water Award: Seeing my brothers after a fifteen year break. This big brother can still whoop up on them.
• Best Day Alone: Me taking a short road trip down to Platte River State Park and surrounding areas.
• Best Day Trip: Me and VK going to Ponca State Park. The closest I've been to South Dakota in a while.
  
• Too Long Award: Me and my birthday. Inspired by Jillian, I tried to do too much, maybe two events would have sufficed.
  
• Iron Pinata Award: Donna (Vivian's Mom). The pinata she made for Vivian's birthday party busted the stick in half, twice.
  
• Yes It Really Exists Award: Me. I have found 1st street in Omaha.
• Longest Goodbye Award: Jillian. She stretched out her send off to NYC to at least five events.
  
• I Finally Got Your Birthday Right Award: Jen. December 11. Ha!
• Camper Van Beethoven Interpretive Dance Award: The Shoveler's Bowling Outing.
• Who's That Girl Award: Maeg. Yes, I know that she was a friend of Happy's, but seriously who was that girl at your party?
• There's No Pot Of Gold Award: A rainbow came out of the sky and landed on the hood of my car, yes, I got a picture.
  

Gaming Awards:

• Game Domination of the Year Award: Ben C. One night in an eight person game of Shadow Hunters, with all of his allies (The Shadows) dead already, all three Hunters at nearly full health, and himself down to one hit point, Ben came back and won the game.
• Cylon Werewolf Award: CJ. He's always one of the two.
• Long Suffering Video Gamer Award: Troy. For some reason, Troy's friends (me included) seem to think it's entertaining to watch him play and comment on his new and creative ways of dying.
• Darren Sproles Fantasy Football Gold Award: Darren Sproles. Thank you Darren.
  
• The 'Sure You Like Gaming' Award: Becky S. Yep, I see your name on the e-mails, but I don't see your face at the game nights.
• Way To Sacrifice Yourself Award: Me. Playing a two cop / two mafia game of "Mafia", I outed Hugh on the first day of the game.
  

Photo Awards:

Out of my 3612 pictures I uploaded in 2009, these 20 pictures are my favorites and/or most memorables from my camera ... it was tough to narrow down!:

These ones are, in my opinion, my best pictures of the year:

I am really looking forward to great 2010!

Christmas Week 2009

Welcome to Christmas week 2009.

Not much happened on Monday, VK and I met up for pie late, otherwise it was work and chores. On Tuesday I almost finished my Christmas shopping. The weather prediction of icemeggedon on Wednesday didn't come to pass, but now one for snowmeggon II, predicted for Christmas Eve and Day was all that.

And yes, it was every bit of snowmeggedon that the first one was. I got off work at 1800 on Christmas Eve. Naturally the car wouldn't start. I waited it out, and it fired up after about ten minutes and I headed over through the drifts to VK's house. Within a few seconds of me showing up Bente pulled up, then their brother Isaac and his roommate, Matt. We got everything indoors and were just about ready to eat when Ben A. showed up.

VK prepared the spread, not shown is the asparagus on the counter, I did the eating.

After dinner, we sat down and played a game of Taboo waiting for VK's other brother, Caleb to show up.

This is exactly what VK looks like playing this game, every time.

Despite the snow, eventually Caleb showed up, he ate a late dinner, and the gift frenzy began.

OMG! He got me a new laptop! ... Actually I warned her beforehand it was just a box.


It appears that this gift was appreciated...


...and this one too...


...um, well, you probably had to be there.

Caleb, Isaac, and Matt took off shortly after this. Lisa showed back up, and Ben and I waited around and chitchatted for an hour or so, and that hour sealed our fate for the weekend.

I made it out of the driveway, but couldn't make it out of the neighborhood, trying three different times two different ways. Every path out of the neighborhood is uphill. When it became apparent that I couldn't make it out of the neighborhood, I put the car on the next street down, in as sheltered of a spot as I could find and walked back to VK's house. I wasn't alone, Ben got his car stuck too, in front of the neighbors house

It was just after this that VK asked me "Is the furnace working?". I looked at the thermostat and said yeah, went into the basement, it seemed like it was firing up, said so, went to bed and forgot about it ... until I woke up and could see my breath. Turns out I wasn't the only one in the house a little cold. After investigation it turned out that the furnace vent had been covered in a snow drift. No exhaust, no heat. Ben went out and uncovered it, I power cycled the furnace, and tada! Heat!

With that emergency averted, it was time for breakfast.


I got dressed and went out to shovel some snow. Maybe my scarf is a little tighter than I meant to have it.


These pictures are only meant for people outside of Omaha. Those in the Omaha metro, you've seen plenty of this in December.

I calculated Ben and I shoveled or snowblew (?) 1500 cubic feet of snow, when it was all said and done, we got Ben and Bente's cars off the street (which didn't get plowed until Sunday).

The snowblower was out of gas (takes 40:1 gas/oil mixture), and I was almost out of caffeine. So VK and I went to walk up to the corner gas station. However when we got out the 129th street, it had been plowed by the city (who knew). So we walked down to my car, shoveled it out, got it fired up, and drove to the corner store. They were out of two cycle oil, so we ended up going down to the next C-store. We got what we needed there. I briefly entertained the notion of driving home, but VK talked me out of it, correctly pointing out that the road conditions were bad, and not going to get any better now that it was dark. I drove back to the spot where my car was before, and parked. We walked back to the house and settled in for the night with chili, the game Sequence, Bente's yoga class, and hey look, a Mythbusters Christmas day marathon.

Saturday dawned to much warmer conditions ... in the house. I had a breakfast of a banana and cookies (does anyone have a problem with this?). About 1100 I walked down to my car and shoveled myself out yet again.

It sure seemed like about 50% of my waking hours over the holiday weekend were dealing with snow, cars, or both.

When I got home, I shoveled the snow out the front of my garage. Went in, shaved (alleluia!) and showered, and then went over to Troy & Merinda's to hang out. I gave them the gift from the group of us, and I got a nice boxed party game, Things. The oddest creature showed up while I was there...

It's more than just a little creepy.

Finally I was home and asleep early.

After much sleep Sunday morning. I got up early ... in the afternoon ... and went to run some errands. As I left the house, VK called, she got stuck at the end of her driveway. I headed over to her house. By the time I got there she was unstuck. I parked a block over, walked down, and we went out to the mall in her car. In the future I will let her drive her . It was her first time out of the house since the proceeding Sunday ... I did the boyfriend thing, someone has to carry bags after all. We had dinner, then headed back to the house for more shoveling and car rearranging.

Finally, the holiday weekend was over, and with everything I had done, I headed home and off to sleep.

Next week: Happy New Year!

Third Week in December 2009

Edited to add video!

Monday started with bad news, little sleep and an unexpected continuation of on call from the previous week. Then when I got on the roads and drove to work, it was very slow going. However the work day went well, and it wasn't too bad at all. I finally got some sleep Monday night ... about ten hours worth. Aaah!

Tuesday after work I went and hung out with Troy for most of the night. We mostly talked and he taught me to play Magic the Gathering ... on line ... I'm about 20 years too late to be relevant.

Wednesday morning I had a dentist appointment to start the day and two cavities filled. It really messed up my whole day constitution wise, I don't know if it was the eating late, the up early, the novocaine, or a combination, but my alertness was up and down all day long.

I also noticed on Wednesday that I have a Facebook friend request from a childhood friend who I haven't had a conversation in thirty years. I am just letting it sit there, not really wanting to refuse the connection, but not really too excited about it either. I still think my friends list should be around 200 or less, but I keep getting more and more. P.S. I ended up on ignore.

After work I went to VK's and helped her move furniture for Friday's carpet cleaning frenzy. After the hard work, we went off to Village Inn for Free Pie Wednesday.

Thursday was dull, but Friday was very busy. I went into work on time, but I had a half day because of the on call from last week. After work I went to my doctors office, then over to Shadow Lake for some Christmas shopping. I finished it up and then met VK there for some shopping of hers. We ended up having dinner at our favorite restaurant, the Hy-Vee cafe. From there we went over to Borders to catch some of Becky's show, after that it was the annual Jitterbugs Holiday swing dance, I have pictures of both.

Becky makes her Borders world premier.


Ben graduated, and got his own jam circle, what better way to celebrate than with Cap'n Epp?


Ben tells Merinda to get down, and boogie!


Normally, at least one of these people is super responsible, if not both of them.

Okay, so here are the rest of my photos of Kristin and Becky singing at Borders. Here are the rest of my JNO Holiday party pictures, and Matt's pictures of the same event start here.

Saturday during the day wasn't much. But in the evening it was time for the annual Christmas part at Jenny & Becky's. This evening could be broken up into three different parts. Gingerbread house building, white elephant gift exchange, and finally, mayhem.

Here is my gingerbread 'house'.


It's not a three headed Christmas monster, but it is a likable picture.


I cannot believe this wasn't the most coveted of the white elephant gifts.


Trust me, anyone who was there knows this was destruction in progress.

It's a little dark, but you should be able to make out the basic dance.

I have more pictures of this party here.

After the destruction was complete, I went over to Kaleb's house for the end of game night. We played a game of Elfenland. I liked it. I finished tied for second out of six. Later on we played Lego Rock Band, I sang and didn't fail.

Sunday seemed to be all about recovery from Saturday (just tired, thanks). I had already had two naps in when I went over to Troy's in the afternoon. I was watching him play a video game sometime shortly after four, and the next thing I know, Merinda is waking me up. Huh? I fell asleep pretty hard. I celebrated my new found consciousness by kicking some booty in 1 vs 100 ... I probably only proved I am more trivial than most.

Not really related to any day in particular, I made Matt's comic ... I don't have any idea what this is referencing. I look happy, so it all must be good. Matt's comic updates every Monday and Wednesday and is usually spot on.

Next week: Merry Christmas!