I got back from Vail, Colorado on Sunday Night. The trip was great, we spent the nights out in Vail Village on Mardi Gras weekend. I had the benefit of having a local, Scott Miller, lead the way around. I’m definitely jealous of everyone that gets to live and work in Vail.

I took snowboarding lessons on Friday, spending the day learning the basics. I went down Lionshead the next day, that was a bit tough. Even though I’m really sore, I had a great time. I can’t wait for my next chance to get back out snowboarding. Update: I developed the pictures from the trip.

I also did the Cordillera Moonlight Snowshoe 5k Race. It was a fun race, we started at 7pm. And despite the name, there wasn’t a Moon. So it was completely dark, and everyone had a headlamp on. It was my first time racing with snowshoes, and I fell a few times on the course. It was a great challenge, I ended up getting 29th overall. Then I won the raffle after, getting a long sleeved shirt and beanie.

Hey runners, set your Tivo’s to record the 2006 USA Cross Country Championships on ESPN2 (Sunday Feb 19th, 11:00pm CST).

The 2006 USA Cross Country Championships and World Cross Country Team Trials, which will be conducted in New York City’s famed Van Cortlandt Park on February 18-19, 2006, features the top distance runners in the USA vying for a spot on the team that will represent the USA at the 2006 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Japan. The weekend will also include the USA Masters 8 km Cross Country Championships.

A study was conducted by two Professors at University of Washington to determine which browser allowed for safer browsing. They tested a several different setups, between Firefox and IE.

Internet Explorer users can be as much as 21 times more likely to end up with a spyware-infected PC than people who go online with Mozilla’s Firefox browser, academic researchers from Microsoft’s backyard said in a recently published paper.

Yahoo Article on the Study

Google Safe Browsing for Firefox

Protect yourself from web pages that ask for your personal or financial information under false pretenses. This type of attack, known as phishing or spoofing, is becoming more sophisticated, widespread and dangerous. Google Safe Browsing is an extension to Firefox that alerts you if the web page is not legitimate. You can download the extension at the following address:

http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/safebrowsing/

I got a really cool email from USA Track & Field. They’ve been working on a new service that allows you to map out your running routes, here’s the details:

Run It. Map It. Share It. A database of America’s Running Routes. Using cutting edge technology provided by Google Maps, USATF has developed a revolutionary service, America’s Running Routes, that allows runners to map and measure their favorite running routes and then save them to the largest searchable database of running routes in the country.

Ever wonder how far your run was? Just visit America’s Running Routes, map out your run, and the distance you ran will be displayed, including mile marks along the route. Think others might enjoy your running route? Just hit the “save” button and your route will be added to the national database.

This would’ve been perfect a year ago, when I was coaching the Hastings St. Cecilia squad. I put together our favorite routes for Cross Country and Track practice:

St. Cecilia Workout Routes

District assignments have been released and St. Cecilia will be Class B in Track this year. This presents a challenge to the team, but I think they’re up to it. Unfortunately STC has been bouncing between Class C and B every year, making it difficult for them to get used to their competition. I’m going to be watching this season closely from Omaha, I wish I could there for another season.

Other news about the STC kids from Brian Neilson: “.. Last Saturday night when Sam Small, Ryan McDowell, Tyler Hottovy, Jake Mertens and I balled it up against the YMCA employees at halftime of the real boys bball game. For the Y’s 125th anniversary, we played some old school peach-basketball, with no backboards and no dribbling. We dominated, of course, about 6-0 or something. There is the newspaper clipping attached to this email.” You can see Brian in the picture. I would’ve loved to have see that game.

The picture is from the Hastings Tribune.

I got a Tivo box for Christmas. It’s been great, I haven’t missed any favorite shows since. Before, I stopped watching TV shows and series. It seemed that if I missed one episode I was lost and the show wasn’t as fun to watch. Now with Tivo, I can grab past seasons from a marathon. Once I’m caught up, then I can record all the new episodes. Tivo does everything for you, scheduling and recording. It’s extremely easy to use.

If you happen to sign up for Tivo, they have a Reward system. If you put their email into the referral system, they get points towards awards. If you don’t have an email address to use yet, you can use:

I went to the Chronicles of Narnia on Friday, going with a group of friends. It was one of the best movies I’ve seen for a while. I read the book in Junior High, it was a favorite book at the time. I thought they did a fantastic job of developing the story. I’d definitely say that it’s a must see film of the season.

(more…)

I received an email today from a friend of mine, it was really moving. She spent her Thanksgiving in Biloxi, Mississippi helping with the Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts. Her email shows how important it is to volunteer and how much we can actually do. Click ‘more’ to read the email:

(more…)

A plane struck a TV Station Tower

After Thanksgiving weekend, my brother and I started back to Omaha. There was a winter storm coming towards Nebraska, and we were going to get ahead of it. We started the road trip down Highway 6 towards Hastings. The weather was awful, with gusting winds and random patches of downpouring rain.

About a mile past Atlanta, Nebraska, I noticed a plane heading east. It was flying low, below the clouds and dangerously close to the KLNE Channel 3 TV station tower. Suddenly the plane struck one of the tethers that held the tower up. The tower began to crumble and the plane crashed into a nearby field.

I quickly called 911, to report the crash. There was another car ahead of us that quickly drove to the TV Station, which we followed. We ran to see if anyone at the TV Station was hurt, but we found that the building was empty. The other car had gone to check the plane wreckage. Unfortunately, the passengers did not make it.

The response was immediate, we saw the County Sherriff and Fire Department very quickly at the scene. I feel really awful to know that a family will have to deal with this tragedy after the holiday. I have them in my prayers.

Update: The passengers were a couple, Daniel Walker (a 24 year old Air Force veteran), Heather Boatman (20 years old), and Daniel’s daugher Kaylee. They were planning to get married in May. They spent Thankgiving traveling to visit family and to buy a wedding dress.

Tribune Article
Chicago’s NBC5 Story
Similar KDUH Tower Collapse

We’ve updated the Cathedral Young Adults Calendar. Lots of great events and everyone is invited. There’s a lot to do, so don’t worry about making it to everything. We hope you see something that fits your tastes, and we’ll see you there.

Update: There is an updated calendar located at http://yam.stceciliacathedral.org/

(more…)

Katie, Brandon, Theresa and Meredith
Click for more pictures

I went hiking today at Mahoney State Park with the Cathedral Young Adults. It was good to get out of town, the weather was perfect. Katie and Meredith got to explore more of Nebraska, since they recently arrived from Connecticut.

We started on the Observation tower, which was a great view of the Platte River. It was a bit creepy how the Tower had a tendency to sway back and forth, which probably wouldn’t help anyone afraid of heights.

Then we started down the Trail, probably last chance to see leaves on the trees this Fall. One path took us up and down a ravine. That was fun, had to do a little climbing. Check out the pictures.

The hike was a great chance to get to know everyone a little better. I’ve been enjoying my time with the Cathedral Young Adults, everyone also met at my house this last Friday to hang out and watch some movies. Send me an email if you’re in the Omaha area and would like to join us, I can get you more details.

I finished the GMAT on Thursday, which I need to gain entry into Graduate school for a MBA. The test is looong, taking 4 hours. It wasn’t overly difficult, but towards the end, I got tired of answering questions.

They printed out some unofficial results from the test and my score will be enough for me to get into the MBA program at UNO. Unfortunately, I will miss the deadline for the Spring semester, November 1st. I need the official results from the GMAT and it will take 2 weeks.

So, I will start next Summer, which is probably better. I need to do a major rewrite and overhaul of my software this Spring and I don’t know if I have the time to do both a rewrite and classes at the same time.

St Cecilia Cross Country
Click for more pictures

The St. Cecilia Cross Country team competed at the 2005 State Cross Country meet, which is held in Kearney, Nebraska. The Boys team qualified, which included Derek Sekora, Brandon Boesch, Brian Neilson, Brett Hodgen, Alex Theis and Jesse Oswald. Two girls qualified as individuals, Morgan Dubas and Meghan Nemetz.

The entire Boys team ran a great race, many of them PR’ed on the Kearney course. They finished 11th overall. Morgan Dubas ran a time that was 27 seconds faster than last year, and placed 16th overall. Meghan Nemetz improved from her performance last year by 5 places, running a great time.

Class C Boys Race Results
Class C Girls Race Results

Mark and Jennifer get married.
Click for more pictures

I just got back from Norfolk, Nebraska where Mark Wemhoff had his wedding. Mark met his wife, Jennifer Nelson, three years ago during a canoeing trip at Valentine, Nebraska. They’re a great match, especially in height. They’re going to have giants for kids.

I just checked my voice mail and got a message from Coach Scott Rosno. The St. Cecilia Cross Country team had a great day at their District meet in Minden, Ne. The Girls team placed 5th overall, qualifying Morgan Dubas and Meghan Nemetz for State. The Boys team placed 2nd overall, qualifying the entire team for State. This is the highest team placing from a St. Cecilia Boys team in Districts, ever.

I wish I could’ve been there, and witnessed how all the StC squad’s hard work paid off. Congratulations Everyone!!!

Official Boys Results
Official Girls Results

Cathedral Young Adults Helping Habitat for Humanity.
Click for more pictures

The Cathedral Young Adults group did volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity today. It was a really good time, it was a good way to spend the Sunday afternoon. We worked on the floors, which wasn’t too difficult.