Here’s some photos from my trip. They’re from the BBQ we had a la casa de los padres de Jenny.

Hotties + I = awesome: yeah, that’s right, this one is of me and the ladies.

Phil+Jenny and Tracy: This one is of Jenny and Tracy, but it looks pretty sweet. Phil is in the background grilling.

Luebbe, Phil, 4L, Varv: Some of the guys chilling out at the BBQ. I think Phil may be giving me a death glare.

Group Photo: Neither of the group photos turned out great, but this one turned out best. Sorry, Phil, looks like a hand obscured your face. I like this one ’cause people are actually smiling.

Jesse at his normal: Yup, it’s Jesse!

Tags: 4L, Luebbe, omaha, Tracy

This weekend has been swell. Friday night after Navs I went to Amigo’s to hang out and talk, and after that went to Varv’s apartment, played Rummy, and we talked for quite a while. It was good times to get away from crowds and get some real conversation going. Not that the other conversations I had in the night weren’t real, but there’s some things you can’t talk about in crowds of ten people who don’t know you.

Saturday = ZOO! Omaha’s The Henry Doorly Zoo, to be precise. My favorite animals were the Polar Bears (in Japanese -> shirokuma), sharks, octopii, and penguins. It’s amazing to watch those animals and think how incredible it is to be separated mere inches from them because of modern technology and ultimately the marvels and wonders of God’s creation. I mean, there’d be nothing to put in the zoo if he didn’t make the animals and no way to hold them in if there wasn’t the technology. I think it would be even more incredible to see some of those animals in the wild. They’d be a lot more fearsome, eh?

Another fun aspect was being there with Jake, Amy Hatcher, April S., and Kanako. Kanako knows Jake and Amy and the other Navs who went to Shizuoka, Japan last summer. Anyway, it was good to spend time with some friends in a different environment than usual and enjoyed speaking a bit of Japanese with Kanako, although I know I could learn more of the language if I tried harder.

Saturday night was Brandon’s birthday. Went to that with Jake and knew many other people there, too. For Brandon’s birthday we made him a 25 song CD. It was Jake’s idea and a good one at that. 11 of the songs on the CD were Copa Cabana.

Today I’ve just done usual Sunday fare — church, ate dinner out at a house, napped, and read various items most of the afternoon. I occassionally find myself with a shortage of real bookmarks due to the amount of books I have being consumed or awaiting consumption at any one time. Today I read parts of The Bible, Wild at Heart, Spiritual Disciplines, The Passion of Christ, and Eyes of Heisenberg (odd sci-fi novel by Frank Herbert — not that good).

This week will be tough for school. I’ve got two midterms on Tuesday, each of which I’m inadequately prepared for. I will study much tomorrow and hope it to be enough. Thursday I have a paper due. But, joy of joys, FREEDOM of sorts comes Friday with the end of the school week and beginning of a Spring Break to be filled with its own busyness and not less requirements than usual, but different. (i.e. I must finally finish my English class. Must.)

Oh, and Phil’s site moved: http://philabowl.f2o.org/ http://thebolls.com/

Tags: Amigos, Amy, college, Jake, omaha, Phil, Runny, scifi

When I got off work tonight, I was waiting for my manager to open the door and let me out (2AM… door is locked). I looked at the handle for a mop bucket and thought of a girl.

No, no, I know what you’re thinking. “This poor shmuck is reminded about a girl… probably a certain girl… no matter what’s going on.”

That’s not it at all! You are mistaken!

My newest thought on love, truuuue love: It starts with a spark. The spark ignites a flame which lights a twig, the fire absorbs a bush, and then the fire spreads and all of a sudden the whole forest is on fire and you’re getting married!

starts waiting for the spark

I spent last night in Omaha con mis amigos! My friends rock. I stopped by Jenny’s house and we talked for a while until a couple of her other friends got there. We ended up going to see “League of Extraordinary Gentleman”. (10 Second Review: An action movie, with the plot being an excuse for the action. This didn’t diminism the fun.)

My car’s soul and aspects of its personality died a sad, sad death today. This is partly due to a comment made by Travis (one of Jenny’s friends) last night related to offensive bumper stickers. Not offensive in the sense that the content is vulgar, but could offend people who don’t have the same beliefs. Anyway, one of my bumper stickers fell under that category. Another of the stickers was beginning to peel off anyway (and was taken out of context). Another one I didn’t believe any more (”Love is random; fear is inevitable.” –> if my car were a Hummer or some other monstrous car, the “fear” aspect might have actually applied somehow.) And the other one… eh. The rest were gone, this one might as well follow.

Now my car is sad. Aside from its personality change, it’s also badly in need of new rotors. A digital homie of mine told me driving the ~100 mile round trip to Omaha with the car shaking above 70mph and brakes clunking when stopping from above 50mph = bad idea. Whoops. Time to find those parts.

The new UNL Navigator’s web page is up and running. Check it out. Let me know if you find problems.

Oh, and God is awesome.

Tags: Jenny, Navigators, omaha

Yesterday (Saturday) we celebrated Jenny’s birthday up in Omaha. We all had dinner and then went to her house for homemade ice cream (yum), played Catch Phrase, and watched “Emperor’s New Groove.” It was fun.

Nkem made us dinner tonight. Emmy Lou and her brother Eric were here as well. Good old stir fry. Mmm. Then we watched Dumb & Dumber. It was the first time I’d seen the whole movie straight through. It’s got some good one-liners and some of the acting is pretty funny. I’ve never quite been attracted to the “they’re complete morons, so this is really funny” type of story, but this one definitely had some good elements.

And with that, I leave you.

“I just thought he was really quiet.”

Tags: Jenny, omaha

I am in the Havenstein’s house now. I actually got here on Saturday morning and unloaded the few things I’d taken with me for my week at Kevin’s apartment. But now, here I am in the big house. Matt’s gonna stay up and work in Omaha for another week, so I’ve got this place all to myself for a bit. One of my only complaints: Dialup internet! AAaaaaah! Oh well. Good old NetZero is letting me surf for free and all I’ve got to do is stare at their ugly banner ads and commercials when it’s dialing the net.

I’ve had a pretty fun weekend. Yesterday we all headed to the AMC 24 in Omaha to catch Matrix:Reloaded. 10 Second Movie Review: Not as good as the first, the whole orgy/dance party and sex scene sucked, the characters weren’t developed much, and most of the plot (that wasn’t in the commercials) happened in the last 30 minutes of the movie. On the upside, the plot is pretty cool. I mean, Neo isn’t as cool as Jesus (and he’s not real, either), but he’s an interesting character. I wish he just wasn’t so indecisive and would stop asking “why am I here?” You’re here ’cause you need to do your thing, dude! Figured that out already. Thanks. Ok, I’m done ranting.

After the movie, about 15 of us went to the house of Jenny’s family. Barbecue, hanging out, Monopoly (I lost… oh well), hanging out, talking, and hanging out. Tracy and I both crashed there so we didn’t have to make the drive back to Lincoln. I’ve gotten used to sleeping on couches; I’ve done it three nights in the past week.

Went to a Vineyard church in Omaha with Jenny, Tracy, and Travis (a friend of Jenny’s from high school, graduated from Wheaton this year). After that had lunch, stopped by Mead (Tracy had some work to finish up real quick), and then came back to Lincoln. Oh, and also got some food (Thanks, Jenny!).

And now I’m just chillin’. Tomorrow: Job hunt continues. A few retail places, a few online apps. Maybe I’ll hear back from somebody, too. That would be a nice change.

Like that’ll happen.

Tags: Havenstein, Jenny, omaha, Tracy