Landscaping Crew

How nice it is to have two kids that are old enough to run the mower and string trimmer.

UNL Fashion Show

Our neighbors took us to the UNL Fashion Show. The show was preceded by a VIP cocktail reception and dinner. Everything was handled by students. The stage & lighting was done by the theatre department, photography: art department, centerpieces & table linens: merchandising school, food service & menu: culinary school, and the models and clothes were all done by the textile department. 

Good Talker

This week we attended the LSW speech team banquet. The school recognizes academics and awards letters for academic "sports". CP got his letter as well as an academic award for keeping his GPA up. The cat is very excited about all of this (she's showing us her face and not her butt in the photo).

These are just the freshmen members of the speech team. I think in total there are 100 kids on the team.

We learned that LSW is going to host a national speech event next year!! Should be exciting.

DEMs for Windows Wallpaper

Several years ago, I created a program that processed digital elevation model (DEM) data files into relief maps. This was before Google Earth & Maps, before Microsoft's Terra Server. There were no good online sources of detailed maps. Now that it's easy to get good maps, I haven't used my program in years. Until last week. 

On my work computer, I have some DEM maps of the Nebraska counties as my wallpaper. Someone mentioned something about them, and was surprised to learn that they are actual maps of real places. They thought that it was all just abstract fractal-based art. That prompted me to generate some maps of the US with random colors. Each map is three degrees wide by two degrees high. There's a map for nearly every lat/lon in the lower 48. I excluded areas with less than 300 ft of relief (Florida does not make for pretty maps - it's too flat).

The collection is located here: http://1drv.ms/1gZis5n. You should be able to download them into a directory and then set your windows wallpaper to show the images as a slideshow that changes every couple of minutes. If you're interested in knowing where a map comes from, the filenames contain the the coordinates of the corners.

Some maps may have white circles on them like this one (click on it to see it full-size); these represent impact craters. This one is upheaval dome in Southern Utah. The crater info was taken from the earth impact crater database several years ago. I've noticed that some appear to be in the wrong spot.

New Apron

I stumbled across a Guinness store while in Vegas. JP now has a new apron in her collection.

Annual Pre-Easter Brunch

We were blessed with perfect weather for our annual neighborhood Day-Before-Easter Brunch. We had old and new neighbors and a houseful of kids. We tried to remember how long we've been doing this - our best guess is that this is year 6 or 7.

We were able to move out to the deck and enjoy the sunshine. We put the remaining fruit salad into the blender and made some tasty fruit smoothies. Before long, we had to break out the sunscreen as everyone's winter-white skin started turning pink.

We had five little girls that I set up in the basement with the drums, maracas, tambourine, cowbell, guitar, and most importantly, a microphone. They had fun making noise for over an hour. 

JP's new Dress

JP bought a pretty khaki dress last year that looked nice, but fought against her hair and skin color. She spent a couple hours and $4 for some blue dye and made her dress new again. She is very excited.

Spring Tease

Last weekend, we hit 80 and had a beautiful spring day. The girls next door joined us on the deck with their dogs. They love JP.

I finished up my homework and took advantage of the warmth to change out my snow tires for summer tires.  Silly me - a day of warmth in the spring means nothing. The wind picked up and it snowed the next day. 

Then it got cold and the water in the pipe going to the sprinklers that I turned on when it was warm froze and burst the vacuum breaker and created a large fountain on the side of the house. 

Treat Drawer

We keep the treats in the same drawer as the AA batteries. Any time I need to get fresh batteries, the animals think it's chow time. M rides along every morning to take the boys to school and then she gets a treat for being good for riding in the car. The cats can't be left out, so they also get goodies, too.

Family Photo

We tried to take a picture of the dog and both cats all together. Fail! I ended up with scratches all over and the cats were mad at the world for the next hour.

Former Neighbors

Our normal Friday Night hangout session with our former neighbors was bumped up a notch when another former neighbor stopped by. 

Favorite Chair

We all have our own favorite chairs. V is no exception. Hers is the barstool with a chinrest. 

Honor Roll

CP is proud to be not only have perfect attendance, but also be on the honor roll. He's really enjoying high school.

Pi Day!

We celebrated Pi Day (3/14) with some apple pi in the lab.

Next holiday: Star Wars Day (5/4).

New Vanity

While I was in Vegas, JP & the boys stripped the oak vanity in our bathroom and turned it white. It was a surprise to see when I got home. We just need a new countertop and sinks and it will look like a new bathroom.

ConExpo 2014

This year I finally got to go to ConExpo in Las Vegas. It's a traveling trade show that only comes around every three years. Supposedly it's the biggest trade show that Vegas hosts - 100,000 attendees. 

We stayed at the Luxor at the south end of the strip. At night, the light from the top of the pyramid attracts zillions of bugs, bats, and nighthawks. There are flying things up as far as the eye can see. 

The ConExpo show fill all of the expo buildings plus outdoor areas to the east and west of the convention center. All of the equipment manufacturers show off their biggest and best equipment. The sky was filled with cranes, aerial lifts, and concrete pumps.

The high clouds were drifting by slowly - they gave the illusion that the cranes were moving. I'm really glad my job doesn't entail working in a 200-ft manlift. 

The Weekender

 I spent most of last week in MN at our corporate HQ. We're gearing up to celebrate our Centennial this year. There's a cool old tractor sitting in the main hallway there.

No trip to The Cities would be complete without a stopover at Ike's in the airport for their meal in a glass. I need to find a source for jalabeanos.

Babysitting the Boys Next Door

This weekend we're babysitting the neighbors' dogs. When you look up the definition of "lap dog", these guys show up. Hard to believe such cute dogs will shred a new leash and collar within minutes.

No Mom

While JP was in FL, we had fun here. Tater tots and fish sticks for most meals.

We took advantage of the 2-for-1 fish & chips coupon I had for the Tilted Kilt. The boy's love that place.

We turned up the amps and rocked out to Rocksmith for a while, too. CP is really getting good on the bass.

JP in FL

JP went to FL for her BFF's B-Day. The two of them planned to lounge on the beach, but it was winter in FL, and they stayed bundled up the whole time. The sand on Clearwater Beach is almost as nice as Siesta Key.

On their last night there, the clouds finally broke and the sun exposed itself to them.

Country Estate

Our ex-neighbors moved into their new country estate. They hosted the superbowl party for the remaining neighbors. Can't wait for their pool to warm up!

More Cowbell!

I used my birthday cash (Thanks everyone!) to get a cowbell (and cymbal and tambourine) for the drum set. Gotta have a cowbell! The boys were very excited - the first song we played on Rockband 3 was Don't Fear the Reaper. It's amazing how much louder real percussion instruments are compared to rubber ones.

New Rug

For my b-day, we went on an adventure to Nebraska Furniture Mart in Omaha. Our mission: find a rug for the living room. Not only did we find one, but we were able to stuff it in JP's car and take it home with us.

The animals all lent a paw to help us unroll and position it.

Vitamin D Production in January

We have been blessed with some excellent weather this winter. Most of the storms have passed by us to the East and left us with sunshine and blue skies. There's nothing like soaking in some warmth and taking a nap in the blazing sun.

The animals are no different. L follows spots of sun throughout the day.

60 degrees in January!! Love it!

January Birthdays

January is Birthday Month for us. Three out of four of us celebrate growing older in the first month of the new year. This year for BG's special day, we hit a new Italian place by Menard's where Bennigan's used to be. Very tasty!

For JP's day, we hit the Cracker Barrel. The boys love the portion sizes there. GP is into biscuits and gravy now. It's amazing how good some foods taste once you try them.

For my special day, we stopped off at Granite City in Omaha. The boys don't eat from the kids' menu anymore.

Respect the Keytar

One of our musical X-Mas gifts was Rockband 3 with a Keytar. The boys have seen keytars in old 80s videos, but were clueless about how they work. Now they know. It's a bit more tricky to play than the plastic guitars with four buttons. I'm looking forward to jamming along with some fun tunes.