The National Parks: America's Best Idea Documentary starts tonight

Back in the spring, my dissertation committee chair gave Julianne and me tickets to see the world premier screening of Ken Burns' newest documentary - The National Parks: America's Best Idea. He had used photograph collections from the Nebraska State Historical Society more than any other archive, so he chose to do his first screening here in Lincoln. He showed us a few clips from the then yet unfinished documentary (sound mixing and stuff was still rough) that dealt with the photographs taken from our state archive. Afterwards, he fielded questions and talked for a quite a while. I even got up and asked a couple questions.

Long story short, it looked really phenomenal and I am really excited to see the full documentary - starting tonight. So, I encourage everyone to tune in. It should be great!

For more info see the PBS site. You can watch a few clips there too.

Emilia is a Grunge-head

In the car today, Emilia was in quite the good mood, so I thought I would play some music for her. On a whim, I put in Nirvana's 1991 "Smells Like Teen Spirit." If you don't know this song, you were obviously either too old, or too young to be into music in the early 1990s.

In any case, when the little rhythm guitar riff started up she immediately began waving her hands quickly and yapping in excitement. Obviously, she knew that some classic rock was about to ensue. I got a kick out of this. To make things even better, when the drums and everything came in, she started (I'm not joking here) headbanging to the beat. She was totally rocking out! Ahhh . . . I don't know if I have ever been so proud of my little girl.

For a trip down memory lane (circa 1991), enjoy the video below. Honestly, this might be the most important rock song of the last few decades. It brought the horror of 1980s hair bands to a crashing end. Hallelujah!

Emmie's new shirt

I made this shirt the other day. I think it turned out really cute if I do say so myself. I think I might even make one for me too! I'm taking requests if anyone wants one.

Sunken Gardens

We decided to take a Sunday walk in the sunken gardens tonight. The weather was nice and Emmie had fun running around. However, just as she was afraid of animals at the county fair plants larger than she is freak her out. We tried to get her to touch some flowers and she wouldn't do it.

My new Goal in Life

My new goal in life is to become THE VALIDATOR!




"Validation" is a fable about the magic of free parking. Starring TJ Thyne & Vicki Davis. Writer/Director/Composer - Kurt Kuenne. Winner - Best Narrative Short, Cleveland Int'l Film Festival, Winner - Jury Award, Gen Art Chicago Film Festival, Winner - Audience Award, Hawaii Int'l Film Festival, Winner - Best Short Comedy, Breckenridge Festival of Film, Winner - Crystal Heart Award, Best Short Film & Audience Award, Heartland Film Festival, Winner - Christopher & Dana Reeve Audience Award, Williamstown Film Festival, Winner - Best Comedy, Dam Short Film Festival, Winner - Best Short Film, Sedona Int'l Film Festival.

Sushi Time!

We made our 1st attempt at homemade sushi tonight with Brent and Ashley. It was a smashing success!


They tasted better than they looked. We're going to work on the aesthetic appeal next time we make it.

Yogurt anyone?

Doesn't this picture just make you hungry for some yogurt? Hungry enough to just scoop it into your mouth with your bare hands?

New tricks

Emmie has been adding tricks to her repertoire. Unfortunately, she doesn't always do them on command. Here are a few we managed to capture:

She can show you her belly button.

She will read out loud to herself and laugh when appropriate.

She will fold her arms for prayer but only for about 2-3 seconds.

She can also blow a kiss, feed her baby with a bottle, point to her hair, climb up and down the couch and give you a kiss (open-mouthed slobber). Generally she reserves these tricks for when we don't have cameras and absolutely refuses to perform on the web cam. Trust us, she can do these things you'll just have to take our word for it.

Branson, MO

We drove to Table Rock Lake (Hollister, MO) for the 2nd annual reunion with some old friends: Brad, Emily and Mya from here in Lincoln and our greatest old neighbors, Mike, Jamie, Ella, and Lola, who drove up from Texas and met us there.

There was plenty of swimming even though the water was cold. Brenden had some pvc pipe from our golf game which he so inventively repurposed as a water squirter. The girls loved it.

Here is the gang- notice that we are the most pastey white of the group.

Without knowing Mya and Emmie had matching swimsuits. Aren't these just the cutest girls? We put a hat on Emmie so she doesn't get jealous of Mya's hair and so her scalp doesn't get sunburned. Someday Emmie...

We decided to venture off the Branson "strip" and found a really neat shopping center with a ton of restaurants. It was no Billy Bob's Dairyland, where we ate on Saturday. We were the youngest people in the restaurant by about 40 years.



They even had a great water show with flames! As you can see Ella did NOT like it.

The trip was a blast just like last year. Thanks for the fun! You all are the best!

My neighbor is 105!

My next door neighbor from growing up in Bellingham just turned 105! That is just crazy awesome. What a stud! Whenever I go home, I swing by with my dad and say hi - he's still sharp as a tack. That's something to aim for. Wow!

The Bellingham Herald ran a short piece on him. Congrats Sandy!