On Saturday, I watched one of the most innovative High School programs I’d ever seen. Mount Michael hosted a robotics tournament where 24 High School teams competed with robots they’d assembled from the Vex Robotics Design. Each team formed an alliance with another team, to compete in a rounds where their robots needed to pick up rings, move the posts, block opponents, and more. It was fun to see smart kids use their talent and have a great time at it.
(more…)

The work done on the Culver Energy Efficiency World project by David Day won a Nebraska Addy.  The website provides educational materials about energy efficiency and conservation for Teachers, Students and Parents.  As a member on this project, it was a fun project that has a positive impact on others.

I’m glad to see it be recognized, it is a very attractive set of material.  More importantly, the site has been a strong addition to Culver Company’s portfolio of educational material.
View the Site

I proposed to Tara on Saturday, February 9th … She said yes! It’s been a great relationship and I’m excited to move to the next step. We now start planning for the big day, there is a lot to do. The wedding will be at the St. Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha, Ne. It will happen in August of 2008.

I’ll keep you posted with any other details.

We won the Summit Award for the Ambassador of Hope Gala. David Day + Associates did all the marketing, branding and web development for the Cancer Research benefit, which raised $1.4 million for UNMC Eppley Cancer Center.

Today, I started at David Day + Associates today as their Web Developer. I’ll be working with an intensely creative team to build high quality web sites. DD+A is a Webby award winning brand and interactive agency. They handle top national clients, this will give me some exciting opportunities to grow.

Last night I had a great time playing ‘The Game’, a version of the Amazing Race. It’s been done in Omaha by a small group of people, probably years before Amazing Race ever hit the TV Screen. There were a series of clues that we followed around Omaha, trying to be the first to the finish line. Our team was Gerry, Raul, Kim, Christine and I. All of us figuring out clues as we got through the game.

We did really well for not having many Omaha ‘natives’ on the team. Our whole team had a great time. It ended with a barbeque and cake, so I’d say it was a great night.

I spent the weekend in Valentine, Nebraska and tubing down the Niobrara River. Our family got together and had a great time. Here are some pictures from tubing down the river.

This weekend was a lot of fun, I went to the Omaha Royals on Friday and the Sawyer Brown Concert. On Sunday we drove to Kansas City to see the Royals play the Angels. A lot of baseball and fun this weekend. Here’s some pictures from the Kansas City trip.

I turned 28th, yesterday. And my friends in Omaha threw a Birthday party that really surprised me, it was a lot of fun. That was a clever little scheme, Christine picked me up. She had a story about going to Thuc’s house and getting Gerry at his sister’s house. We got to Thuc’s house and we went to the basement to ‘take care of some stuff’ and Dan walks around the corner, saying “Happy Birthday”. I figured he was just hanging out at Thuc’s house. Then the real surprise came when everyone else popped out. My initial response was a cross between shock and amazement. I think Gerry was going for some tears, but there was none of that. :)

I coulnd’t believe that my brother’s were there. I had asked them the day before to hang out in Omaha for my Birthday, but they gave me a story about how they had other things to do. I was really impressed by the amount of work that was put into getting everyone there. This was my first surprise B-day, so that was real cool.

Christy just bought a camera this week for her Birday and took a lot of pictures:

http://www.brandonpetersen.com/gallery/v/family/birthdays/

Brandon, Derek, Brian & Brandon

I went to the St. Cecilia Graduation today (in Hastings). It was really good to see all the kids there again. This is another exceptional class of kids, I’m can’t wait to see what they end up doing. Brian Nielson was the Salutatorian. Talk about a smart kid, he’s planning to go to UNL and enroll in their Honors Engineering Program.

I was happy to catch up with Cross Country and Track athletes, they look so excited. They had a really good season of Track, there was so much improvement this year. They can’t wait for the next Cross Country season, they are expecting to have one of their best years, yet.

Thanks Mom, for everything that you’ve done for me and the rest of the family. As I reflect on the past, I see that we’re really lucky. We have the best mother you could get. I look back, and there’s too many examples to explain of the great things that you did for us. Let me brag a little bit …
(more…)

A very big win for St. Cecilia Boys, the smallest school in the B-5 District. Even with some important athletes missing from injury, they managed to come out on top. The girls team placed 5th in the same district. This really makes me proud, I know how great these kids are. Dedicated and driven, they were absolutely the best kids to coach, last year. I’m wishing them the best at the State Meet, I’ll be there to cheer them on.
(more…)

It’s finally happening!! A new track and field is being built at Hastings College. It will be a part of the Osborne Family Sports Complex, east of the Football field on the corner of 12th Street and 6th Avenue. They plan to have the track and field complex complete in the Fall of 2006.

Good news, Coach Clay is planning to host the first home Track Meet at the new track in the Spring of 2007. So you got a year to train and enter a race unattached, get on it. :-)

If you’re interested in donating to the track, you can call Mike Karloff at 800.775.2585. You can send your contribution to:

Hastings College Foundation
11422 Miracle Hills Drive, Suite 550
Omaha, Ne 68154

Tim & Kaylee

Tim & Bobbi are now the proud parents of a little girl name Kaylee J. Congratulations!

I enrolled into my MBA Classes for the Summer Session this morning. I’ll be starting my first class on May 8th, it will be one of those Prerequisite classes for the program. So, I have about a month of freedom until the classes start, I’m going to enjoy it as much as I can. The only downside is that I was planning a trip to New York from May 5th to the 10th, so I’m going to have to cancel that. Maybe I can rechedule later this summer.

For those of you that hadn’t heard yet, my sister Whitney recently got engaged. She’s planning to get married to Steve Pribnow in the Summer of 2007. They’re a great couple, Steve is a great guy. The whole family is excited.

Also, Whitney had her Birthday this week on April 10th. We got her tickets to a Kenny Chesney concert at the Qwest Center. Sounds like she had a great time.

Michelle, Harper and Lance

I ran the State Farm 10 mile Run in Lincoln, today. It was a great race, lots of runners and the course was mostly on a dirt path. We ran past Walton, which is the site for the Cornhusker State Games Footstock. My goal was to run under 1 hour and ten minutes, so I was happy with my performance.

Here’s my results:

Time: 1:08:29
Pace: 6:51
Overall Place: 44 of 485
Division Place (Male 25 to 29): 6 of 26

I ran into Michelle Paxton-Schupbach at the race, an old HC teammate. Amazing, she recently had a baby and she right back into competing. She did very well and ran great race.

We went to the Holy Name Fish Fry on Friday night. The line was huge! Wrapped around the building, down to the basement, through the tunnel and finally to the cafeteria. Great food and lots of fun. They went through 2,000 pounds of fish, it’s hard to imagine.

When I got in line, I bumped into Elly Hoarty. She darted off and brought over Bob McKeenan. The three of us went to South Korea, Hong Kong and China in the Summer of ‘96. We went with the USA Track & Field Cultural Exchange and competed against athletes in each country. Well, the suprise was that Bob and Elly are engaged and planning to get married next summer. It’s really cool, they met each other 10 years ago on a trip to China and now they’re engaged. It was great to see everyone, I also had a chance to catch up with Julie Hoarty and the rest of the family.

I was admitted to the Graduate College of the University of Nebraska at Omaha. I am ready to start classes this Summer, I’ll know more once get a chance to register for classes. It should take 2-3 years to get my Masters in Business Administration. I’ll probably follow the Technology emphasis, of course.

It’s been a good day.

If anyone has been attempting to call me in the past 2 days, my phone has been down. So I’m not ignoring anyone, just been dealing with a mess. Alltel says they’ll have it working tommorrow (March 1st).

What a pain.