Ah, holidays. We hardly knew thee.

- I was late for supper on Christmas Eve. By an hour-and-a-half. Whoops.

- The expected niece is no longer "Katelynn." Apparently my brother disliked the nickname "Katie," so he made up "Kelbi." I asked what everyone else was buying her, and apparently .22 rifles and camouflage dresses are actually on the list. The family laughed as a whole when I asked if I'd be the only person buying her books, so I'm taking that as a "yes."

- The Christmas haul was excessive, but at least I didn't have to figure out how to fit four folding chairs into my car this year. Favorite gift? My mother hand-wrote every single one of her recipes into recipe books. Four times. So we'd each get an original. Apparently it was her "a few hours a night while watching tv" project for several weeks.

- I scandalized my family with my artistic nudity portfolio. The majority of the crowd at my grandmother's on Christmas Day thumbed through it. People said they liked it. I think some of them were just being polite because I was standing there, but a couple of my cousins asked for the link to see the rest of the portfolio. Most of my immediate family passed; I think it's weird for them.

- The Chili's in Scottsbluff needs to have its salt privileges taken away. I've discovered that excessive sodium can lead to headaches.

- I toured the farm house of my sister and her husband for the first time. It's within sight of Chimney Rock, which is cool.

- Haley nearly won the Trivial Pursuit game we played at Linde's house (losing by one pie to Linde), despite boldly stating that our neighbor to the north is "Canadia" and London is in France. I earned the "geek award of the night" for knowing the definition of the word "prehensile."

- Haley took me out to an abandoned farm homestead in the Sand Hills to take photos (which are still on the camera). It was a great outing, except for the 8-degree wind chill and the fact we both walked through a cactus patch.

- I visited with my father's parents for a few hours. They're holding up for being in their mid-eighties, but they can't hear each other talk so I nearly ended up with vertigo from trying to carry on two conversations at once.

- I brought magic berry pills for my family. My brother was adamant about not participating, but once I talked him into it he ate most of a lime by himself and asked where to order the pills.

- One of my aunts pulled a used sword scabbard out of a junk pile somewhere and gave it to me for my sword collection. My brother looked at it and, referencing the sword I gave him as a graduation present years ago, said "My sword is *way* too big to fit in that. Mine is huge." I asked him if that was a euphemism, which earned me a blank look and a "what?" in response, accompanied by stifled laughter from the rest of the dinner table.

- Quote from an unnamed family member: "You can't use the shower yet. I have to get my crescent rolls out of the dryer first." (They were, in fact, in the dryer, using the heat from the last laundry cycle to make them rise faster.)

- The trip back was uneventful. I averaged an astounding 47 mpg (unheard of for a 10-year-old non-hybrid car) through careful hypermiling and new tires. I verified (by not stopping for gas) that I can make the entire trip from Oshkosh to Omaha (about 375 miles) on just under 3/4 of a tank (as long as I don't mind a nearly 7-hour drive).

I hope everyone had a peaceful and happy holiday.

Labels: family, haley, holiday, jeff, mom

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Friday, November 28

Happy Birthday!

Haley
Originally uploaded by -Greyson-

To Haley, who is no longer a teenager. :)

Labels: birthdays, family, haley

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Friday, August 22

Family Ties

The wild card in my immediate family (referring, of course, to the youngest of my siblings, who was the grand age of 6 when I went to college and thus has always known me as this sort of absent, mysterious figure while I remember only the flashcard-like highlights of her life: Christmases and graduations, for the most part) spent four days with me this week on a frenzied back-to-school shopping spree. Highlights:

- We finally did the climbing wall at Westroads Mall. There is some small degree of contention here about who actually "won." Haley maintains she was higher on the wall and thus won by default, while I point out that I pushed the "finish" button (which plays this little fanfare for the entire store) first (by about half a second) even while climbing a more-difficult course. In any case, I've discovered this is an activity that requires preparation (in the form of an ongoing stretching and cardiovascular regimen); my arms were so sore that I wasn't sure I'd be able to drive afterward. We also watched a little blonde 8-year-old waif kick the wall's ass (holy cow); judging by the way she was discussing the gear with the staff I'm guessing she does it as a hobby.

- We had lunch one afternoon at the not-cheap-even-though-it's-just-melted-cheese-and-bread Melting Pot fondue restaurant at Village Point (Haley's pick). It was good, although neither one of us felt particularly well afterward (perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not).

- Haley officially adopted her new MacBook. I put money toward a shiny green wireless mouse we found at Best Buy as an early birthday present.

- Haley, Meghan and I watched "21" on Sunday evening. Kevin Spacey can be creepy when he wants to be.

- Haley's car wouldn't start on Tuesday as she was preparing to leave. Two phone calls and three Internet searches (plus some fiddling with the battery and assorted other arcane rituals) finally convinced the car it wasn't being stolen and it deactivated its anti-theft system (for now, anyway).

- After Haley's departure, Meghan and I celebrated her birthday with an outdoor concert at Lauritzen Gardens and a heavy dinner at The Olive Garden.

And finally . . .

- The utilities company *finally* finished their repairs and patched up my street (the day after Haley left, of course), so I have full access to my garage again.

Labels: family, haley, meghan

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Tuesday, July 22

My So-called iLife

In a most serendipitous fashion, Haley has both (a) needed a new computer for awhile and (b) not received a high school graduation present from our parental units (despite prepping for her sophomore year to begin in about a month). In her infinite wisdom, Haley turned over most of the computer-decision-making-process to me, and I carefully weighed the pros and cons of Dell Vista laptops and other assorted machinery, checked prices and made informed recommendations on system specs. And, of course, I left any sort of personal bias out of the equation.

So it's just by chance that she's getting a MacBook. Honest.

I had all of the components (the MacBook, a RAM upgrade from a third-party, a student copy of Word 2008, etc.) shipped to me so I can have everything upgraded, installed and customized by the time Haley visits next month. Plus this way I can have a MacBook to play with for a couple of weeks . . .

Labels: computers, haley, imac

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Wednesday, November 28

Happy Birthday!

Haley and Sarah
Originally uploaded by -Greyson-

To Haley, my dearest baby sister (who is now in the last year of her teens).

Labels: birthdays, haley

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Thursday, October 11

Day of Links

- My baby sister's campus is on lock-down after the get-away vehicle from an armed robbery at a casino was discovered in the vicinity. Scary stuff, but it's good to see the campus is taking it seriously in the wake of other recent campus incidents.

- There is a real decommissioned Titan missile base for sale on eBay. Perfect for an Evil Mastermind Lair(tm), a zombie-apocalypse retreat or a do-it-yourself Stargate facility. If only I had $1.5 million (plus another several million to renovate it, since it was "stripped for scrap" in the 60s). We could pool our money for anyone interested.

- As amusing as this video is on its own, it's compounded by the fact that the "blonde" second-from-left is one of my uncles. I'm glad to see he makes an even less attractive woman than I do.

- Although not a cup of tea palatable to everyone (both musically and politically), I found the song "Empty Walls" (even if the video quality on the official site is somewhat lacking) a sad-but-moving entry. For those trying to place the voice, this is the lead singer of "System of a Down" on his first solo outing.

Labels: amusement, haley, miscellany, music

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Sunday, May 27

On Safari

My baby sister and her boyfriend visited over the weekend. Commentary to come later. For now, pictures must suffice.

Labels: family, haley

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Monday, May 14

Documenting Memories

I'm back from the outlands after an eventful weekend. A longer post will follow, but because I know my mother is anxiously awaiting these, I present the photographic record and the video compilation of my baby sister's high school graduation. Congrats, Haley. :)

Labels: family, haley

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Tuesday, March 20

Artistry

Art comes in my forms. I write stories and take pictures. My baby sister makes pottery. She's been encouraging me to post pictures of my Christmas presents since, well, Christmas. ;)

Labels: haley

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Tuesday, November 28

Happy Birthday!

The fledgling of my nuclear family enjoys her day in the sun today. Of course, since she's a few years past the driving birthday and a few years shy of the drinking birthday, the extent of her new found powers is the ability to cancel out my vote (in 2008, anyway).

Happy 18th, Haley. :)

Labels: birthdays, haley

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