Two Parties: Pink and Basement

This past weekend had two highly anticipated parties. The (one week delayed) annual Omaha Jitterbugs Pink Party on Friday, and the long awaited unveiling of the Nothnagel basement on Saturday. The weekend started early for me, I had a half day off on Friday, left work and headed over to Troy & Merinda's to help them put the finishing touches on the new basement ... four hours later, the basement was cleaned and ready to go, with only minor details to follow the next day.

Time to get ready for the Pink Party. The Omaha Jitterbugs Pink Party Dance is the only reason I own a pink shirt (well two), and I wear them once a year. The party is to celebrate Valentine's day, and it was originally scheduled for February 13, it was rescheduled when the Eagle's Club people where we dance somehow panicked over a few inches of snow ... in Omaha. Prepare your eyes, some of these pictures are, well, really pink.

Yes, these people are wearing pink, all fairly subtle...


...I think they have the hang of it, just a little pink and...


...OMG! My eyes! Jenny, nooooo!


There were quite a variety of pink interpretations.


Why does Rob wear red suspenders? To keep his pants up ... thank goodness.


Everyone was a winner!

Finally everyone was all pinked out, and we had to head home. I do appreciate that at the end of the dance, for some unknown reason, we are no longer herded out the door at the Eagle's club like so many cattle.

The next day dawned and there were definite plans around the Ben and Eric apartment. I was making cookies, and going to be finished by 3:00pm so Ben could make his dessert. This that and the other think happened - I blame Kevin - and of course it was after 4:00pm before I got serious about baking my cookies. No problem I finished with at least ten minutes to spare.

Ben didn't lick the frosting, as far as you know.


Some things never change at the Nothnagel's house parties.


The new bar.


Check out all of this dance space.


Has anyone ever figured out what is up with people stealing my camera and taking pictures of feet? I notice a certain Sarah's feet are always in them.


Cliff took this stunning picture of Sarah and I dancing, it's already framed and on my wall.


Ben shortly after Anna & Kristin braided his hair, he must have thought that much attention from these two was heavenly.


How come at every party there is always a collection of ladies that pile up like semi-trucks on a foggy interstate ... but with more hugging?


Not really sure what is happening here, but reports are that it started at the top of the stairs.


Kevin can't quite spell Y-M-C-A.


I pretty much put my prediction abilities on the line saying Anna would use this picture as her profile.


Of course what party is complete without someone starting "the wave" on the couch?

Between me, Matt, and Cliff we took almost 250 pictures. Check 'em out! Also Matt has a blog entry about the weekend.

Many, many thanks to Cliff and Matt for use of their pictures, see html alt codes on individual pictures for specific credit.

Lenten Commitments

Happy Mardi Gras! Okay, here is what I am doing for lent, I might as well make it public so I can be harrassed supported by all my friends to make it through. It's going to be all health related:

I'm giving up: fried foods (unless mom makes it while I'm in Chicago).
I'm taking on: my exercise program.

There it is, I think we can all live with my one proviso.

Want to get Entangled Baby?

I love physics, in particular quantum mechanics, well except for the math part. I like how things that make sense at our level of size break down completely at a certain level. If you know nothing about quantum mechanics click there for a primer, pay attention to 3.8, cause that's where we're going.

Now that you're all read up, a reputable physicist has designed an experiment in which humans will be used as the observers, hence as the observers, the human beings themselves will become entangled. Sweet. I'm not an expert in the field, but I figure these will be the two largest objects ever entangled experimentally, by many, many orders of magnitude.

Seriously though, forget the physics part of this experiment. The philosophical implications are mind-boggling, or maybe conscious-melding ... probably not, but still the coolness factor is off the charts.

Here is the slashdot article and the linked article from the physics arXiv blog

An Exercise In, Well Exercise

The gentleman on the left in the pink shirt is Jose, and he is my motivation.

Let's face it, Benjamin Button aside, we all have one thing in common, we ain't getting any younger. I understand that as well as anyone else who is, um, 39 years old. I've managed to more or less maintain my weight over the last few years, although not through exercise, it has been through eating less, especially of those foods that I really enjoy ... like ice cream and pizza.

This is what I think, I may be wrong, but this is what I think anyway. Medical science has come a long way just in the time I've been I've been alive. I think it is likely I can carry most of the level of activity I enjoy now well into my 80s. Probably they'll invent an exercise pill, although activity will remain good for you. What to do until then?

Enter my dancing friend Jose. Jose is a bicycle enthusiast. He trains and rides constantly, many times riding over a hundred miles in a week. Jose does this because he likes to bike, many people do. As a by product of his biking constantly, he is in really good shape. Jose is just a bit older than I am, but in significantly better shape. Here is the kicker, because Jose is in such good shape, and keeps exercising, it has an interesting side effect; he eats whatever he wants, in the quantity he wants, when he wants to.

I've started exercising. Not for any higher reason, for good health, or because it is the right thing to do. It's all about the ice cream and pizza. If I can manage to get myself exercising regularly and mildly vigorously, plus walking and dancing, I should be able to burn off an extra 1500 calories a week. That will offset a lot of extra treats.

Who knows, maybe I'll even look and feel better too.

Super Prediction

I thought it very funny leading up to the Super Bowl (can I say that on my blog?) that majority of "experts" on ESPN and Sports Illustrated were picking final scores of the game to be in the three, four, or seven point spread range. This way they can "win" in three of four scenarios, if they predict a close game, either outcome will be a "win" when spun properly ... a blowout win by the team they picked is a "win" also. The only time they "lose" is if the team they had losing, loses big.

We do not have football experts, we have risk managers dressed in tutus. Congratulations to the people who have the intestinal fortitude to predict a blow out. Here is my prediction:

Arizona 34, Pittsburgh 13

And I don't think it will be this close. I cannot imagine too many scenarios where Pittsburgh can score more than 24 points, and that includes two defensive touchdowns. I don't see how Arizona doesn't move the ball up and down the field. Pittsburgh's defense may be very very good, but Arizona's offense is great. On the other side of the ball, you have a not so good offense in Pittsburgh, playing against a suddenly hot defense.

Ask my Bears what it's like to run in to a hot defense in a Super Bowl.