L I N C O L N   B L O G
 

3.20.04 — All things related to mother nature
The past few days have been sunny and warm—and "Breezy" according to the NOAA web site. Breezy. They use that word kind of casually. In the past they've described winds of up to 40 mph as Breezy. Somehow Breezy just doesn't have enough oomph to describe a 40 mph gust, does it? I notice today that the winds are about the same as they will be tonight, but because the temperature will go down to 21 degrees, they use the word Blustery.

It's been dry for the past few days, which is good because we are waiting for the basement ground to dry out so the floor can be poured. We're not supposed to get rain until Monday night. Hopefully someone is out there pouring concrete today!

We are having a little bit of drama regarding water and our backyard. It's a long story, a lot of which requires a knowledge of ground slope and civil engineering. We have a meeting with our realtor, builder and the development engineering firm next week. And we thought weather-related delays would be our only house drama. We're such silly, naive home builders!

Yesterday I was in the office and it was really warm. I sit in the back, away from most of the front office hustle and bustle, but also the heat. I have a little heater that I use on cold days to keep me from turning into a popsicle. Anyway, yesterday it was 75 degrees in the office, so we opened up the back doors to let in a breeze. Usually I have no problems concentrating at work because of being in the back. It's not a major traffic area, and a lot of times I'm the only one back there. (Contrast that to my last job where I sat in a much higher traffic area and had a hard time concentrating on my work. Here I get into super concentration mode—so much that one night I hadn't realized that everyone had gone home and I almost got locked in. I have a key now!) The office is an end unit, and backs up to a field. So here I am, 4 pm on a Friday afternoon, with a warm breeze (see, now that's a proper use of the word!) blowing through and the sounds of crickets in the field. My concentration? Right out the door!

On a non-weather-related note. We've been staying up too late. We're not sure why—maybe a touch of spring fever? We been making a conscious effort to go to bed earlier, and have had some progress this week. But tonight is the Malaysian Grand Prix. We taped practice and qualifying, because to watch it live would mean tuning in at 12:30 am. That's a very easy decision on a work night. But the race is live tonight (technically tomorrow morning). Is it possible to go to bed knowing that the race is about to start? Is it possible to put a tape in and walk away from the tv just when the cars are lining up on the grid in Kuala Lumpur? We might have to work on the getting-to-bed-early thing next week. (And by the way, get down with your bad self Webber!)

3.15.04 — Spring five days away?
Monday morning: wind so gusty the windows rattled and the car alarm kept chirping. The sleet blowing against the window sounded like little nails. Finally got up, put my slippers on and... oh gross, the cat puked in my slipper. Happy Monday!

Talked with our builder today. We are still getting estimates on countertops, and are giving the appliance specs to the cabinet maker. No word on delivery yet—just that after drywall is up, we are 60 days from closing. The floor still needs to be poured, and the electrician still needs to do his thing before drywall can be started. Maybe end of June?

Big event for the weekend: we drove up to Omaha Saturday night to eat at Blue, the restaurant recommended by my dental hygienist. It's not exactly what we expected. It is located in a strip mall, and the interior feels like a trendy hotel lounge/bar, but with a restaurant. It was smaller than we imagined from the web site. The sushi was good, for the Midwest, but not the same as Sushi King in Columbia. We miss you Bamboo! I tried a new version of my favorite Apple Martini: it was red, a little spicy, and was made with sake. Tasty!

3.07.04 — The local scene
Friday was our first night "out on the town" in Lincoln since we moved here. Our evening began at The Starlight Lounge. I wish there was something I could link to on the web so you could see it. The decor is totally vintage 50s, down to the period couches, lights and chairs! The colors are "burnt sienna" and turquoise. It's fabulous!

The Starlight is actually owned by Buzzard Billy's upstairs. We wound up at Buzzard's for dinner, and were a little disappointed. The big attraction there is alligator, but all of the gator dishes were fried. And it was Friday in Lent. Catholics can eat fish, but not meat. Does the Vatican have a ruling on reptile?

Then we went to the legendary Zoo Bar to see Eddie "The Chief" Clearwater play some Chicago Blues. We missed him in his headdress, but he rocked the house.

We are becoming true Nebraskans (no, no Husker flags) and have NE tags on our cars (No, that's not our plate. Go here to see the history of the NE plate.) and NE drivers' licenses.

We also have a subscription to Midwest Living. (Ok, they were selling a three year subscription for the price of one year. We got hooked by their marketing ploy!) It's actually pretty interesting and lets you know what's happening in and around the surrounding states.

3.05.04 — Why mess with a good thing?
Our Girl Scout cookies were delivered last night, and we were really perplexed as to why we had to buy Caramel deLites instead of Samoas and Peanut Butter Patties instead of Tagalongs. We did some searching (PDF link) and found out:

Totem Council currently receives its cookies from Little Brownie Bakers, a division of Keebler, which supplies a little over half of the councils nationwide. However, Pacific Peaks Girl Scout council in southwestern Washington uses ABC, which does offer different varieties of cookies. All bakeries offer a version of Samoa, Thin Mint, Trefoil, and Do-Si-Do (all with different names), as well as four original cookies.

Why are there different recipes for the top selling cookies? (Do-si-dos are called Peanut Butter Sandwiches and Trefoils are called Shortbread—Thin Mints are Thin Mints.) Our "Caramel deLites" (reminds us of that crazy band) were way more caramelly that we're used to, and the "Peanut Butter Patties" just aren't as crispy and buttery as the Tagalongs. Girl Scout cookies are an institution! We demand more uniformity! And of course, uniform to the recipes we are accustommed to, thank you very much.

Things could be worse. In Canada, they only sell these.

3.04.04 — Ladies and Gentlemen, we have walls!
We had about two weeks of no snow and rain, and now our house has walls, a roof and windows. But, we're supposed to get three inches of snow tonight. Sigh. Our realtor called yesterday to personally apologize for the rough winter we've had, and he hopes things keep moving for us. Most say building a house in Lincoln usually takes about four months. We are entering month seven in our rental. The walls are starting to close in!

Don't miss the sloooooow dentist entry. I wrote it last week and forgot to post it. Oops!

I am posting this while watching practice for the Australian Grand Prix. I can't tell you how excited we are to finally start hearing our friends David and Steve again. We missed you guys! They are like friends who come to visit every other weekend for nine months out of the year. OK, there are probably only a few people who read this who understand our excitement. Our apologies to the rest. We usually watch these races live, which means early Sunday morning because so many of them take place in Europe. But because of the time difference, this race will be live Saturday night. There's talk on T's car list of getting together somewhere downtown to watch. Yeah!

Not much has been going on, really. We've both been working hard, and we're a little tired. That's why there haven't been many updates. Things have even been slow with our ethnic nights with the Korma club. No new recipes for us, but we did have the Masts over for Tandoori Chicken and Channa Masala. (Note: we use Madhur's recipes from Invitation to Indian Cooking.)

So, before you get too bored, I'll end this overly-stimulating post. Once I download the new house pictures from the camera, I'll post them.

Last month's Blog.

 


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House Update
3.15 - Choosing countertops.
3.4 - We have windows.
2.29 - We have a roof.
2.26 - We have walls.
2.19 - Framing begins.
1.31 - Planning the kitchen.
1.22 - Foundation gets brick.
1.15 - Exteriors are ordered.
1.6 - We're waiting for power.
1.3 - Foundation is poured.
12.28 - Hole digging has begun.

Photo Albums
August 18, 2003
September 9, 2003
December 3, 2003

Notes about Lincoln
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shopping bag...sack
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Lincoln Weather

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EMRlogic in the News

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