Overnight Snowfall

It was snow blowing time here in Omaha. Four houses in less than an hour.

Isn't She Cute?

Veronica and I had a nice time together today.

Foggy Walk To School

We could barely see the interstate traffic from here.

Trip To Mount Michael

The championship banners are a nice touch in "The Palace."

  The girls and I ventured west to Mount Michael tonight to take in a Knights basketball game. It was the first time I've been out there for a basketball game in many, many years and it was quite a different experience than I remember.

First, we arrived very early, thinking it would be hard to get a seat. That didn't prove to be the case. Secondly, the Knights are not very good. They had won one game coming into the night and they didn't beat South Sioux City in this game.

But what was memorable was the wicked ping-pong game between the girls during third quarter action. And the post-game stop at Arby's was fun, too. Here's a little gallery to recap it all.

Julia (right) and Olivia were ready to receive.

A more relaxed moment of the action.

Veronica was on Emily's side.

There were plenty of paddles.

The stop at Arby's was quite a blast.

Veronica asked if there was something stuck in her teeth.

And then Julia (left) seemed to have the same problem with her lava cake.

Thank You, Denia Marriott

The girls show off their jewel pendants, gifts from the Denia Marriott staff.

Drive To School

Just back from three weeks in Spain, (from left) Julia, Veronica and Olivia
enjoyed a warm glass carriage ride to school this morning.

Home ... And Immediately Out Skating

Veronica pretended to munch on popcorn while I took this picture of her and Julia.

I got a text message from Julia when I landed in Omaha asking me if I could take her and Veronica to a school (roller) skating party. I'd only been traveling for the past 19 hours and had been awake for nearly all of them, but what the heck, right?

So within two hours of walking up the jetway at Eppley Airfield, I was lacing up a pair of roller skates and taking laps around the rink with Veronica. Julia was impressively gliding around (on single blade skates), which strangely reminded me of the way the officials skate at UNO Maverick hockey games.

I asked Julia where she learned to skate so well. "At home," she replied. Huh? She roller skates at home? Uh, ok. Guess you need to be good to navigate around the kitchen table or make your way across a carpeted living room.

Heading Home

The VIP Lounge in Valencia was nearly empty. But well-stocked with chocolate milk.

Not many people on board the first of my three flights.

A long day of travel began at 2 a.m. when I woke up to watch the Santos Tour Down Under. Little did I know that this would mark a monumental day of monitoring races because later tonight – in the U.S. – I would be monitoring another stage of the race. Yes, two stages of the same race in the same day, due to the time difference. Who knew?

Anyway, once Stage 3 ended, it was a race to get the story written, audio files loaded and distribution performed. Scott Nydam was a huge help, moving my bags from here to there as I tried to finish my story while checking in. Thank goodness for Delta's Sky Priority lane, which hustled me through that process – and security – and into the VIP lounge to finish things off.

Then it was off to Paris where Scott and I did our best impressions of OJ Simpson, running from one terminal to another to get through security and onto different flights back to the United States. (He flew to Atlanta while I was going through Detroit.)

Dirty piles of snow greeted me in Paris.

I was seated in 11B for the eight-hour flight and the seat map online showed I (fortunately) had no one sitting next to me. Well, that is until a couple came on board and began eyeing the seat next to me. It was a strange thing. Was I sitting in their seats? Was one of them going to sit next to me? Were they getting the fact that I was shooting them back the evil eye?

Well, after they stood there for awhile and spoke to the flight attendant at the door and gone back up the jetway and back, the woman approached me and indicated she was going to sit in the window seat next to me. Okay, so I'm not going to have an empty seat next to me. Fine. But a few minutes later, in French, she told me her husband was up in business class and asked if I would switch seats. Switch seats with him? Of course, he can sit in Economy Plus while I enjoy first class service in the seat he paid for.

But there was a little something lost in translation. She wanted me to switch seats with her so she could have the aisle and go up and back to visit him. Uh, really? Whatever, I thought. I'll hunker down for eight hours with the bulkhead to prop my head against. But that scenario was short-lived because he soon returned and, not long after, whisked her not to business class, but to row 22 (not even Economy Plus) so the two could sit together. Strange. But good for me.

The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful. I watched three movies – including "The Town" and "The Muppet Movie" and three episodes of "The Office." Regarding the latter, I'm not missing much by not catching it weekly on NBC.

Will this all fit in my new suitcase?

Yes. And it made the weight limit, too.

A Rare Night Out

The view overlooking Jávea is breathtaking at night.

This boat is near a roundabout in Jávea.

"This is Spain."

It's a bit of an inside joke, but one that makes me chuckle as I recall it in the context it was delivered. Suffice it to say that you can see a lot more of Spain at night, after the riders go to bed, than you can if you're out on a training ride.

I got a glimpse of Jávea tonight and, while there weren't many people out, it didn't matter. The views were stellar and it was a side of the country I rarely get to experience. I was able to do the same in December as well and that night was equally as memorable.

Current Temperatures

So I'm not looking forward to my return to Omaha so much.

The Creighton Game

I tuned in from Spain just in time to see the final score.

Looks like they lost.

The Oprah Interview

Lance Armstrong sat down with Oprah Winfrey for two-and-a-half hours.

This is what I saw online instead of commercials.

The much-anticipated Oprah Winfrey interview with Lance Armstrong aired online at 3 a.m. in Spain, which meant waking up in the middle of the night. Thankfully, it started out fast or I probably would have fallen back to sleep. I watched the entire 90-minute broadcast the first night, but skipped the hour-long second part the following night.

Sponsor Shoots

Taylor Phinney is first up on the sponsor shoot front
at the BMC Racing Team camp.

Back At The Civic Auditorium

Omaha Central beat Omaha South for the Metro Conference title.

Emily took in a rare basketball game tonight at the Metro Conference Holiday Tournament, as Omaha Central played Omaha South for the championship. I can recall watching countless Creighton University basketball games there. I also covered the Big 8 volleyball tournament there in the early 1990s. And I did the stats for the Omaha Beef during six or seven seasons of play there.

A Few Vintage Photos

I believe this was taken in 2000. It's the last day on the old set at KMTV.

Check out Emily.

And here's Lauren!