States I Have Visited

So I saw this on Facebook and thought I would participate. It's a program that produces a colored graphic illustrating which states you have visited, or visited more frequently than others.

First, here's the key:

Want to produce your own graphic? Here's the link.

Halloween On Parade: 2013

This year's Halloween parade was a bit unlike years past.

For starters, there was only one YD marching. Julia has moved on to junior high (but accompanied me because of her own early dismissal). Olivia was home sick. So Veronica was left to carry the torch. And she did a great job as a solo act. You can see by the smile on her face that she was obviously enjoying herself as a beautiful Barbie princess.

The weather also cooperated. Sunny skies and temperatures in the low 50s made for a great time.

On to the photos...

Olivia's teacher sported a "Despicable Me" Minion costume.

Here comes Veronica...

This little guy looked like he came straight off the pitch. I asked him who won.

That's a "graduated cylinder."

Look! More Minions!

This is an annual tradition. See past versions here and here.

These two onlookers attracted quite a bit of attention.

 I couldn't get over how tall this kid's hat was.

The Cat in the Hat seems startled Veronica has lost her wig.

And with a flip of her wig, she's replaced the Cat in the Hat's hat ... with hair.

There, that's better.

So Who Won?

Nebraska beat Illinois 39-19 and Sean's buddy, Eric Francis, took this (copyright) photo of it.

Nebraska beat Illinois 39-19 Saturday. So first we needed to figure out who won the prediction contest. Well, only two people – Julia and Sean – chose the Huskers to win. So that certainly narrowed it down. And Sean's prediction (42-34) was the closest. So there you go. As for the other categories? Well, we lost track of the original sheet. We'll do a better job next time. We promise.

Nebraska-Illinois Predictions

So it's Nebraska football time again and I am finally in town to enjoy a game. Last week, the Huskers had a bye week so the girls and I will be watching when the two teams kick off at 11 o'clock today.

Of course, there will always be a prediction contest. And this year, we stepped it up with a variety of predictions in addition to the usual ones (winner and final score). The new categories for today's game are: temperature at game time in Lincoln, number of people we will see on TV wearing corncobs on their head and the number of yards rushing by Nebraska.

Name	Winner, Score	Temperature at Kickoff	Cornheads	Neb. Yards Rushing
Emily	Illinois, 47-23	49 degrees	11	316
Lauren	Ants, 10	1 degree	"10 hundred"	1
Julia	Neb., 51-45	51 degrees	6	245
Olivia	Illinois, 47-43	48 degrees	5	402
Veronica	Illinois, 47-36	45 degrees	6	425
Sean	Neb., 42-34	49 degrees	3	425

As you can see, Lauren is already a bit off the mark. But that's OK, right?

USA Pro Challenge: Helping Tejay van Garderen

Tejay van Garderen needed a little help at the finish of the Vail time trial today.

This Was A Bit Disturbing

At least all of those messages are marked as "read" on my MacBook.

Think She's Excited?

I hadn't heard of "Teen Beach Movie" before tonight. Obviously, Veronica had.

Girl Scouts Pool Party

It's not unusual to see us at the pool. But this obviously wasn't at Robin Hill Pool.

Veronica was invited to an end-of-the-year swim party for her Girl Scout troop this weekend. Curious to see what the pool was going to be all about, I set about to use some simple technology to find out.

It was a matter of plugging the street address into Google maps. From the looks of it, this swanky home in Bellevue had nice curb appeal. So that passed the initial test.

 

The final step was to take a bird's eye view of the pool itself. Of course, when a photo like this is taken in the winter or spring, it's not so appealing. But the fact that it was an in-ground pool and had a diving board gave it a passing grade.

As for the swimming, the girls gave it a passing grade, although the water was a bit too cool for me. We did have a nice game of "Simon Says" which might go down as the first I can remember being played in a swimming pool.

Thanks, Veronica, for letting us join you at your Girl Scouts swim party!

This Guy Is Smart

If you are opening for Justin Bieber, make sure people know your name.

Dress Up Like Dad Day?

This is what I came home to this afternoon. Quite the surprise.

Back to the Future: Hillcrest Estates

We'll see how this turns out. It's expected to be quite a place when finished.

We added to our "Back to the Future" series of photos today by snapping a "before" photo of the area near Hillcrest Estates where an elaborate "Grand Lodge" will go up on some vacant property at the corner of Highway 370 and 60th Street.

You can read all about it – and even view a virtual tour here. Judging by the photo at right, it's going to be a pretty amazing place.

If you don't want to follow the link, here is a bird's eye view of the master plan. The "cottages" are already in existence and where Aunt Jean lives now.

Working Lunch

Filip Sercu shot this photo of me using some of the screaming fast wifi at a Swiss cafe.

Finally ... My Luggage Arrives

Here's the poor guy who had to deliver my luggage. He was in a rush, obviously.

I've never seen so many luggage tags on a suitcase. Yikes.

So my luggage didn't catch up to me when I arrived in Geneva on a Delta and KLM Airlines flight Friday. And it actually didn't catch up to me until early Sunday morning – just before 1 o'clock. What a saga. And I was simply waiting for it. I can only imagine the drama the delivery driver experienced making his way on narrow, Swiss mountain roads, late at night, through pouring rain, to a hotel that was completely shut down for the night.

Did I mention this guy only spoke French? Well, that was a bit complicated. Fortunately, there was a chef from Vancansoleil still in the lobby and he directed this guy in. But by the time he showed, the hotel was completely locked up and the driver ended up about 300 meters from the hotel in the team parking area. I ran out into the rain, signed for the two bags, gave him all the Swiss Francs I had (about seven), plus three Euros and he was on his way.

My Office

This will be my office for the next five days. (Photo by Filip Sercu.)