Playing politics

Now that my parents' visit is over, Vivian and I found ourselves with a relatively quiet weekend to ourselves. No better way to wind down a Friday than some goofy fun and watching Big on Netflix (which I did afterward). That night, Vivian and I got to set up for JNO, where about a hundred people dropped in for the beginner's lesson.

The brief storm ushered in some fantastically muggy weather on Saturday. I dropped by the Heartland LibertyFest at the Sumptur amphitheater over in Papillion. It was a small convention catering to Republican and Libertarian folks in the area, so I got to chat it up with the likes of Congressman Lee Terry, his primary challenger Brett Lindstrom, and Dave Nabity of the Omaha Alliance for the Private Sector (and Omaha's closest thing to a superhero). Senatorial candidate Don Stenberg was also there, as was his primary rival Attorney General Jon Bruning. The smoldering weather unfortunately kept me from sticking around to hear Bruning's infamous comparison of racoons and welfare recipients, which happened to go viral during the next week.

On Monday morning, Mike Johanns paid a visit to the Papillion HyVee, so I dropped by with several other constituents to hear him talk about the debt ceiling, among other things. I'm not sure if or when Ben Nelson is planning to drop by, but if could just say hello to him I'd have all my bases covered in congress.

On Sunday, Chaplin Rick Sweenie paid our church a guest visit. Afterward, we had a potluck at church, and Vivian got to share her tasty potato salad with us. Other mundane chores kept Vivian and me busy for the rest of the week. I wound up massacring a few trees in the backyard, filling one tiny trash bin well over its capacity. Then on Wednesday, we managed at last to buy our baby crib at Nebraska Furniture Mart (and then dropped by Smashburger afterward to celebrate).