Gobble gobble

It was a fabulous four-day weekend down in Omaha this weekend as Vivian and I celebrated national Eat a Turkey Day with family and friends. My brother Nathan was able to make it up to Omaha on Thursday to have Thanksgiving Dinner with Vivian's parents and our mutual friend, Eric "Onion-Boy." We ate a big, juicy turkey, which didn't seem to phase its distant cousin Diggy, who was too busy whistling the theme to the Andy Griffith Show and perching on Nathan's shoulder to notice that we were eating one of its relatives. Vivian made some meat roll ups, and I made some deviled eggs that all contributed to filling us up with hors d'oeuvres prior to the actual meal.

The real fun came after the food, when Nathan broke out with the Wii and we all took turns playing bowling and golf together. Vivian had the chance to clobber us in both golf and bowling as I tried desperately to get my ball to go somewhere in the vicinity of a hole once in a whole. Of course, we had to create custom "Mii" characters for both Eric and Vivian's dad, of course. The one we made for Onion Boy provided almost as much amusement as the games themselves.

On Friday, Vivian and I helped out with a cookie decorating table at the Durham Western Heritage Museum, where they were holding some Christmas festivities and lighting a giant Christmas tree for the season. It was a great time watching kids get high on sugar and mistake Vivian's Dad for Santa Claus (he told them he was just his grumpy elf). As volunteers, Vivian and I got to participate in the festivities for free, which included live music by Heidi Joy

We couldn't leave the museum without getting a picture with the big man himself (and his misses) before taking a long, frigid walk through the Gene Leahy mall, all lit up with festive Christmas lights, sipping hot cocoa and egg nog to keep from freezing outside in the picturesque wonderland that is downtown Omaha in the winter.

Saturday marked the return of Lindy in the Mall, an Omaha Jitterbugs event where we steal a portion of the Mall of the Bluffs for ourselves and do the Lindy Hop for the amusement of Christmas shoppers wandering by. On this particular Saturday, Sarah and the rest of the terrible trio were reunited for the first time in ages as they took to the floor.

After the dance, Vivian and I took a look around the mall, stumbling upon a kiosk selling "Power Player" video game systems. These were familiar-looking self-contained video game units designed into a game controller that plugs directly into your TV, but instead of coming with one or two games of Pac-Man and Galaga, it came with dozens and dozens of fairly popular NES games, including Super Mario Bros, Contra, Bomberman, and even Duck Hunt with its own little light gun. I quickly recognized the system as a pirated game console, with tacky packaging that lacked a company logo and including such artwork as a screen capture from Star Wars the Phantom Menace. After some investigation, I found the units had been around long enough to warrant their own page on Wikipedia. I didn't buy, one, but I was seriously tempted. Honestly, who couldn't resist being able to play sweet little games like Excitebike and Balloon Fight again?

Hugh and a bunch of us went out to Old Chicago afterwards for dinner and then took a walk through downtown Omaha to see the newly-lit Christmas lights. We headed on to Blockbuster afterwards for a lengthy debate on whether to watch Big or We are Marshall that evening when we crashed at Ben's to hang out until two in the morning. Ben's such a good sport.

On Sunday, I returned to Lincoln to help Nathan move into his sweet new apartment. It's a brand-new complex with all sorts of amenities that almost make to want to move in right next door: free golf, free hot tub, free washer and dryer in the apartment, free cable, and all sorts of extras. Plus, no more noisy college kids playing obnoxious country music at three in the morning. Boo-yeah!

Thankful with friends at GAMe

It was another pretty quiet weekend, as Vivian and some of her friends had a road trip up to O'Neill and Battle Creek to visit friends, leaving me in my apartment to update my good old portfolio for most of the day. I did get to spend some quality time with Viv on Sunday, getting pictures from her road trip uploaded to her Flickr account, and then taking a walk and playing on a see-saw for the first time since I was in elementary school. Viv always finds ways to make me feel like a kid again.

My friends and I are gearing up for a big, jam-packed Thanksgiving week, with something big happening pretty much every day all the way through Friday. On Monday night, we had a dinner and worship time with GAME on Jones Street, where we got to pig out on more turkey and mashed potatoes than anybody could eat, and then had worship and time for giving thanks afterward. Micah, Erin, and their little ensemble treated us to songs on their guitars as members of the group got up to light a candle for every thing they were thankful for this year.

Quiet Weekend

It was a quiet weekend here in Lake Wobegon, my home town. Wait, that's another show. It's actually been a quiet weekend here in Omaha, where I spent the weekend with Vivian, mostly hanging out. We went to JNO on Friday night, as usual, grabbing some barbecue beef brisket at the Smoke Pit with the illustrious Dan Wondra beforehand. On Saturday, the two of us went shopping at Younkers to get some discount clothes using some community coupons we'd purchased for that day only. Afterwards, we went for a beautiful autumn walk through the Fontelle Nature Center in Bellevue. The leaves were mostly going to brown, but we still saw some pretty fall colors and a gorgeous view of the Omaha skyline and bits of Iowa across the river. Since the trees had mostly shed their leaves, it was easier to see through the expansive woods.

We did drop by Becky's housewarming party late Saturday night, but we spent Sunday mostly to ourselves, going to church together and then got a bunch of groceries and some Cold-Eze before heading home. I made Viv some chicken noodle soup for lunch, and we watched watching Punky Brewster together. She had been feeling a little under the weather all weekend, and I was hoping to snap her out of it. Sunday night we went by Walgreens to get some prints made from her digital camera and stopped by Zio's for pizza before getting bread from Panera. It was a quiet weekend all around. You can tell by the relatively skimpy output on my Flickr account.

The Dumpling Gang

Our friend Hugh had a dumpling party at his house on Sunday night, and a bunch of us got to come over to his place to enjoy some homemade pork dumplings and Kalifornia sushi rolls. I'd never made dumplings like this (Vivian called them "pot stickers,") but they were pretty easy once I learned how much of the filling to put inside the little tortilla (Yeah, it's not a tortilla. It's a wrapper.) We wound up making far more dumplings than we could possibly cook or eat in one night, so everybody left tremendously full when it was all over.

Fondue and Swinging at the Pla-Mor

Vivian and I have had a bunch of mid-week fun this past week. On Tuesday, Bob and Robyn Ireland, a couple old bible study friends of Vivian, hosted a fondue party for a bunch of us. They had a chocolate fondue, two cheese fondues, and a canola oil fondue for cooking beef and chicken on little skewers. It was great fun to dip marshmallows and fruit into chocolate, and my favorite was the white cheese fondue that Vivian made using parmesean cheese and garlic.

On Thursday, the Pla-Mor Ballroom was having its monthly swing dance, and even though it was already November, they were having their costume dance and gave out prizes for the best costumes there. Rob Meyers easily took first place when he showed up in his SpongeBob costume, dancing with as many pretty ladies present as possible throughout the night.

Swinging Halloween Weekend

Last Friday, we had our annual Halloween Dance with the Omaha Jitterbugs. Vivian and I returned as Wine and Cheese, this time sporting some custom t-shirts I created just for the event with Zazzle.com. We earned a spot among the finalists in the costume contest, which was quite an honor, even though we didn't win. I couldn't quite argue with Ruth getting first prize for being an authentic Jitterbug, of course. The Jack and Jill contest proved to be a little difficult for Jonathan in his grass skirt. At first he couldn't decide whether to lead or follow, and then his coconut bikini kept falling off, providing much amusement to both his follow and everyone else watching.

We saw plenty of great costumes throughout the night, far too many to post in one blog. You'll have to consult Cliff's pictures to see most of them. Eric came again as Johnny Bravo, this time wearing the appropriate colored t-shirt. Other costumed favorites included Chris as Quail Man, Cliff as a Deviled Egg, and Rob returning as SpongeBob SquarePants.

On Saturday night, a bunch of our mutual friends stopped at Venche's new house in northwest Omaha for a housewarming party. We had some goofy karaoke down in the basement, and everybody cleared out in time for me to try singing by Bowling for Soup's 1985. Upstairs, we stuffed ourselves silly at the baked potato bar and then played a round of Crap or Not. It was more fun to hear Eric and others asking their own Crap or Not questions, which turned out just to be a series of "did you know" trivia questions. Vivian, for instance, knows two languages, but speaks only one.

We also played a hilarious round of Apples to Apples and an extensive game of Mafia until well after one in the morning. Good times.

(Thanks to Cliff for getting the picture of me and Viv as wine and cheese. You can see the rest of his Halloween pictures here.)

Nine months

It's been nine months now that the lovely Vivian Taber and I have been "officially" a couple. On Friday we went out to celebrate at the Macaroni Grill in Omaha before going to JNO to join our friends for the Halloween dance. Every time Viv and I are together, we make more amazing memories:

• Making me black bean chili
  
• Going to church together on Sunday and then dancing together every Sunday afternoon at Lindy in the Park, eating ice cream afterwards, and getting bread together that night from Panera.
  
• Sharing a campfire together at the Lonely Onion Ranch.
  
• Driving her deep into Iowa to meet my family in Cedar Rapids, then driving into a breathtaking golden sunset on the way back.
  
• Going on my first camping trip, canoing on the Niobrara and seeing the infite expanse of the universe without the light of the city getting in the way.
  
• Experiencing my first Cowtown Jamborama and making everyone hoot with a kiss after winning the corn-eating contest.
  
• The best birthday of my life with friends and a big Cortland Cake.
  
• Waffles, used books, and watching a parade in NebraskaCity.
  
• Making her my first cake ever in the shape of two red velvet hearts for her birthday.
  
• Dancing our way down to St.Cecilia's in a parade.
  
• Stuffing straw everywhere I could on the Hayrack ride, then dancing upstairs in the same spot she met the Omaha Jitterbugs.
  
• Tramping our way through Vala's Pumpkin Patch and getting to feel like a kid again.
  
• Getting to be whiney and cheesey together for Halloween.
  

All these things and more make me feel so special, even without the t-shirt. You make me feel like the luckiest guy in the world, Vivian, and I'm loving you every minute.