Ready for School ... And Snow

Veronica was bundled up for the snow that was falling before school this morning.

Late Nights At Langkawi

Smoke or mist just after the finish line of Stage 8 of the Tour de Langkawi?

The Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia – more than half a world away – means staying up late to catch the results. The live broadcasts have been strange - but are worth staying up to watch, if only to watch the highlights package at the end, complete with rolling credits and an upbeat music bed.

More Moments With The Mavs

Bridget created this fun photo featuring Julia.

Bridget took Julia and Veronica to Sunday's "Skate with the Mavs" event (as previously mentioned on this blog) at the CenturyLink Center.

The event stirred memories of other Maverick hockey events the girls have participated in over the years, particularly the time in 2005 that Julia got the now-infamous UNO hockey sweatshirt autographed. It is pictured in the clever photo montage above (left picture). When combined with a photo taken nearly eight years later, also of Julia, it's another snapshot in time of their love and involvement (thanks mostly to Bridget and Jon) of the sport and the Mavs.

When I saw the new and old photos, I wondered if I had blogged about that October day in 2005 when Julia got her sweatshirt signed – a shirt that Veronica was wearing up until this season. Sure enough, I did. You can read it here and see some fun photos of the four oldest girls when they were much, much younger.

Here is the video of "Skate with the Mavs" from the KETV.com website.

Skate With The Mavs

Veronica (pictured above, at right) and Julia appeared
on KETV's coverage of "Skate with the Mavs."

Now That's Service!

This was a welcome sight – that came with a surprise.

So you've seen the video of the girls and Bridget shoveling the street. That was Friday. The storm came Thursday afternoon and by Friday morning, snow plows were clearing streets all over town. Except for our neighborhood. Saturday came and went, too, with no plow.

I talked to Bridget, who said she had called the city twice and emailed once. So after church, I jumped online to email my city councilman, Garry Gernandt. I expected this might get some action sometime Monday. Well, hopefully.

Three hours later, a heard the roar of a truck and looked outside. There was a plow – finally – doing its thing in the circle. I immediately sent a text to Bridget to let her know the good news. She encouraged me to thank him, so I used the opportunity to take out my garbage. Little did I know what a surprise I was in for. When I got close enough to say hello and thank him, I realized it was ... Garry Gernandt!

Not only has Garry received my vote for city council in the past, but he's got it for as long as he wants to keep being my city councilman. Thanks, Garry!

Here's my Facebook post about it.

Fun At The UNO Hockey Game

Three of the girls and two of their friends enjoyed the "suite life" at the game.

It's not uncommon – and certainly a nice gesture – for my sister, Bridget, and her husband, Jon, to share tickets to UNO hockey games they sometimes come into. After all, it's not exactly cheap to take five other people to watch the Mavericks.

But Saturday's game was different than all the rest we have experienced since UNO began playing its games in the CenturyLink Center. That's because the tickets Bridget shared with us were in the Luxury Brands of Omaha (Budweiser) suite. Suite 6, to be exact. And it was everything we thought it would be. (Well, minus the free food.)

UNO was playing the U.S. (Under 18) national team in a game that was rescheduled from Thursday night (when it snowed). Though the Mavericks lost, we had a nice time and the girls who went along (Veronica, Olivia and Julia) were joined by two friends, who also seemed to enjoy it.

The crowd was sparse for the game, which was rescheduled from Thursday.

Bridget came to visit Veronica between periods.

Olivia (left), Julia (center) and their friend enjoyed the free pop and water.

Veronica (right) brought her Hello Kitty playing cards to share with her friend.

Before the game, we made a stop at Taco Bell.

Digging Out

Veronica tackled the snow herself (above) and with some help (below).

The Omaha Snow Storm That Wasn't

I made quick work of the driveway.

After much talk about an 18- to 24-inch snowstorm for Omaha all week, I woke up to about 7.5 inches of snowfall that was powdery, which is great for snow blowing. A little after 8 a.m., I got to work snowblowing. When I got inside a bit after 10 a.m. and looked at my phone, I realized I missed an interview call. Oops. Thankfully, I was able to quickly reschedule. Now the snow is melting fast. Supposedly, two more storms are on their way next week. We'll see.

One of those fishwrap advertisements nearly did in my snowblower.

Here's the snowy view of the house.

I cleared Bridget and Jon's driveway and sidewalks.

Here's a look at the circle. We don't expect a snowplow until this afternoon.

The path between houses has been restored.

I snowblowed a path in the street and did the Lloyd John's driveway, too.

Here's another look at the snowblowed path in the street.

Watch The Snow Fall

Shriner's Hospital Trip: Up And Back In A Day

Lauren and I started our day at 4:45 a.m. at Eppley Airfield.

Eight boarding passes for our four flights: Omaha to Chicago's O'Hare to Minneapolis and back.

Lauren patiently awaited her breakfast at a nice little place we found tucked in the back of one of the food courts at O'Hare.

A plain omelet, lots of hash browns, toast and hot chocolate were on the menu for Lauren and her other travel partner.

When you're as skinny as Lauren, there's quite a bit of seat belt left to go around.

Lauren even got a little reading in on the flights. We had a different type of aircraft for each one. (She liked the flight from Chicago to Minneapolis on an Airbus 320 the best.)

We joked that "Gate Gourmet" is where we are going to eat the next time we dine out.

There was a flurry of action in the lobby behind Lauren. A local high school football team was doing a workshop activity with patients.

Lauren's longtime friend, Dedra, caught up to us several times. It's always good to see her.

Dr. Lael Luedtke is Lauren's new physician,  replacing Dr. Ken Guidera, who had treated her since our first visit back in the early 2000s.

Lyndsey, the X-ray technician, had the same Nike shoes as Lauren.

So many flights out of Chicago ... but only two going back to Omaha.

Here is the cake Lauren designed herself.

Can you tell some of her sisters were pretty jealous of Lauren's birthday cake?

Lauren wasn't the only one smiling about not having an ice cream cake this year. The Cake Gallery creation broke our habit of usually going with something from Dairy Queen.

Can you tell the birthday cake was a huge hit?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Veronica wore pajama pants with hearts on them to school.

Olivia had a pretty pink heart on her T-shirt.

Julia had a Hershey's kiss-themed T-shirt.

Celebrating A Masters World Title

Mark Savery celebrated his masters world cyclocross title at the Trek store. Check out that cookie!

Sydney Brown and me. (Photo by John Peterson.)

It's not every day that you get to celebrate a world championship. And certainly, it is even a rarer moment when that world champion is someone from your hometown.

But that's exactly what we did tonight at the Trek store after Mark Savery captured the Masters 40-44 world cyclocross title in Louisville, Ky.

I've known Mark since he raced for the Kinko's Copies-Domino's Pizza team back in 1991. He was always head-and-shoulders above many of the guys on the team and nothing has changed nearly 24 years later. It was quite a nice time hearing about all the training and preparation that went into pursuing his dream of winning the rainbow jersey on home soil.

I also got a chance to catch up with Sydney Brown, who is pioneering the path of women's cycling in Nebraska. I still remember officiating her first race and seeing her potential. She's a past age group national champion in the time trial, which makes her another one of the state's most prolific and storied cyclists. It's a pleasure to know her as well.

Fun At The Amazing Pizza Machine

The girls loved this machine that pushes coins over the edge.

And afterwards, there were plenty of tickets to redeem.

My good friend from the BMC Racing Team, Trudi Rebsamen, called me recently to ask if I knew of a place that was a good place to take kids in Omaha. She said a friend of hers had a few kids and was looking to take them someplace when they were visiting Omaha.

Little did I know that Trudi was actually tricking me into revealing a place where the girls would like to go on a cold, winter day. It was not long before an envelope showed up with a gift certificate to one of the places I suggested: the Amazing Pizza Machine.

So today, we chose to redeem it. And what fun we had. After eating all kinds of food, we played a bunch of games ($25 worth of tokens, I believe) and, afterwards, the girls redeemed their tickets won for prizes. It was a great time. Emily was off with a friend, so it was just the four youngest, which made it even more special.

Veronica's Yoga Session

Veronica did yoga with lululemon's fitness expert, Ted McDonald, via YouTube.

Veronica and Sustr

Veronica posed after tonight's game with the tallest player
in Division I hockey: Omaha Maverick Andrei Sustr.