et cetera

2012-01-17T10:57:00.036-06:00

UNO's first Division 1 home game

UNO versus IPFW at Sapp Fieldhouse, December 10, 2011

UNO's participants in the game	Points
Alex Welhouse	24
Mitch Albers	21
John Karhoff	12
CJ Carter	10
Matt Hagerbaumer	4
John Ring	4
Caleb Steffensmeier	3
Bill Freeman	2
Mitchell Farr	0

2012-01-09T15:24:00.000-06:00

The Swedish Cottage in New York's Central Park

The "Swedish Cottage" was first constructed in 1875, in Sweden, and then transported by the Swedish government to the United States to feature as an example of Sweden's superior woodworking craftsmanship, for display at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. It was built as a model schoolhouse, and made of Baltic fir.

Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of New York's Central Park, was so fond of this structure that he had it moved to New York after the exposition concluded--where it is presently situated in Central Park (at 79th Street and West Drive). It is approximately between The Great Lawn and The Lake, and near the Turtle Pond. Around the immediate vicinity is also the Shakespeare Garden, the Belvedere Castle, the Delacorte Theater (an open-air theater) and a 38-acre heavily wooded area with hiking trails they call The Ramble.

Atop the Cottage is raised an American and a Swedish flag.

In 1947 the Swedish Cottage became home to the Parks' traveling Marionette Theatre. In 1973 the building was remodeled inside to include a permanent stage, and since then they have put on daily shows, bringing fairy tales to life, enchanting its many youthful visitors.

This is a brochure I picked up while I was there

2012-01-09T14:24:00.025-06:00

Missouri Valley Conference
2011 Regular Season Standings

	W	L
Creighton	15	6
Wichita State	14	7
Illinois State	13	8
Missouri State	11	9
Southern Illinois	11	10
Indiana State	8	13
Evansville	7	13
Bradley	4	17

Creighton wins

TD Ameritrade Park - Omaha, Nebraska

2011-04-23T00:16:00.019-05:00

This is the new downtown stadium, built specifically for the NCAA's College World Series. It replaces Rosenblatt Stadium.

It is also the new home for Creighton University's baseball team, the Blue Jays.

The Nebraska State Fair

2010-08-31T22:23:00.014-05:00

Grand Island is now the new home of the Nebraska State Fair, after having been in Lincoln for so many years. They have all-new exhibition buildings constructed for it, giving this event a new boost for future growth. In particular, one improvement over the old site is a climate-controlled birthing room, which is one of the fair's main attractions.

Grand Island is farther from the population center, but closer to the geographical center of Nebraska. In my opinion, it is not too much of a pain for people from Omaha (Nebraska's largest city) to drive there, than when they had to drive to Lincoln, since it is still a fairly easy drive just about eighty miles further down Interstate 80, Nebraska's "main street".

There is not much to say about the fair in words, that pictures can't do a better job explaining. So here goes it:

High School Football

2010-08-31T22:21:00.005-05:00

Nebraska's 2010 high school football season kicked off on August 26. Nebraska divides the competition into different levels, with Class A being the highest division. Week one saw several good matchups, including Millard West hosting Omaha North and Creighton Prep hosting Millard North. Millard West justified their #2 preseason ranking by defeating Omaha North by a score of 35-19, and Creighton Prep eeked out a close win over Millard North, by a score of 7-6 at UNO's Al Caniglia Field, which Creighton Prep uses as their regular home turf. In week two I saw visiting Fremont defeat Omaha Northwest 27-7.

Calvin Keys

2010-08-21T13:11:00.004-05:00

Jazz guitarist Calvin Keys, son of drummer Otis Keys, is one of Omaha's native sons. At age 17, Calvin first hit the road to Kansas City, and eventually working with the Jimmy Smith Trio. In 1969 he moved to Los Angeles, and soon after cut his first album with the Black Jazz record label. By 1975 he had relocated to the San Francisco bay area, and has been there since. Over his career he has worked with such personalities as Ray Charles, Ahmad Jamal, Carmen McCrea, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, Gloria Lynn, M.C. Hammer, Sonny Stitt, Tony Bennett, and Luther Vandross.

Journey to Red Hook IKEA

2010-08-11T20:06:00.006-05:00

On a Sunday evening one night, I took a subway to the deserted Financial District in search of Pier 11. Follow Wall Street down to the East River and go a half block further south, and you'll find it. Pier 11 is where the "IKEA express" docks from Manhattan Island. It is a New York Water Taxi that takes one to the IKEA superstore in Red Hook (Roode Hoek in Dutch), a neighborhood in Brooklyn. The store is right on the waterfront. On weekends, it's a free ride. Otherwise, it's 5 dollars per ride unless one spends 10 dollars at the IKEA store, and then a 5-dollar credit is received in return. I think that's a pretty good deal. Especially at the chance to sight-see a bit in New York's harbor. I got a good view of the Brooklyn Bridge and Governors Island, though it was overcast and drizzly. But I call that a perfect evening to visit IKEA, and have a cup of coffee, and some Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes, lingonberry jam and lingonberry drink in their cafeteria, all for $3.65 which seems like such a bargain for being in New York City. And...I could have had unlimited refills of coffee. But alas, I had to go venture through the maze of showrooms before the store was going to close. They have directional lines on the floor so customers won't get lost. By the time I made it all the way through, it was closing time, so I quickly grabbed a few Swedish groceries near the checkout lanes to take back with me. I knew already that I had missed the last Water Taxi going back, but it was no problem, I thought, because I could just as well take a bus (B61) to downtown Brooklyn and catch a subway (F train) back.

click on image for bigger picture

It is easy to get there...

2010-08-11T18:46:00.008-05:00

If you want to go to a New York Red Bulls soccer game, it is now easy to get there, thanks to the PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) trains. If you're coming from Midtown, go to Herald Square (where Macy's is) and you'll find the 33rd Street PATH station. Buy a ticket for $1.75 at one of these machines...

Then you'll get on one of these trains, sit in one of their comfortable seats, and you'll be taken to Journal Square station where you shall get off, to switch to the other train coming from the World Trade Center. It is a free transfer. Don't leave the platform. It's coming...When you get to the Harrison station, you'll get off the train. This is the stop for Red Bull Arena, which is only a short walk away from the station. The stadium is not hard to find from where you leave the Harrison PATH station. Just walk south from the station and look to the left.Enjoy the beauty of this stadium in all its splendor.And then there's The Beautiful Game...

Sarpy County Fair

2010-08-08T10:55:00.010-05:00

There is only one Sarpy County in the USA, and they have one of the best county fairs around. It is in the town of Springfield, which has that small-town atmosphere not far from the city. They have rodeos and demolition derbys. They have kettle corn that is bigger than any popcorn you have seen. They have concerts with local bands, all the classic carnival rides, 4-H club displays, a beer garden, bingo hall, cattle and chickens and other animals on display, some exotic. They have a petting zoo, tractors on display, a mechanical bull, politicians' booths and a whole lot more.

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Klaus Kinski

2010-01-10T12:05:00.006-06:00

from Aguirre, the Wrath of God - a film by Werner Herzog

This is a film about a madman bent on finding some lost city of gold, and takes his whole crew down with him in this pursuit. Herzog himself was kind of mad. He had to film his movies on location, and was so particular about a lot of things, that he drove his whole film crew nuts--especially his leading actor, Klaus.

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I (heart) New York

2009-02-13T12:03:00.026-06:00

Pictures from New York
Nygård is pronounced like "new-gord" in Swedish. It literally means "new farm", and is the surname of this company's founder. The "å" is a particularly Swedish letter, that is pronounced like an "o" rather than like an "a", because it has a little "o" above the "a".......... Get it? I suppose you ask why do they do this, rather than just write an "o"? Well, because the "o" in Swedish is pronounced like "oo" as in food. The Swedish "y" is pronounced like a German "ü" or as close as I can approximate it in English, sounding like "new" with your lips rounded.
This is a women's clothing store, which is located near Times Square/Herald Square in New York City.

Other pictures of New York City:

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Pictures from the Bix Fest, 2006-2008

2008-07-30T21:21:00.015-05:00

Bix Beiderbecke was one of the great jazz musicians of the "roaring 20s", otherwise known as the Jazz Age. He died too young, but a festival in his honor takes place every summer in Davenport, Iowa.

Col Ballroom poster collection

2008-07-23T21:07:00.003-05:00

The Col (short for "Coliseum") Ballroom is a Davenport landmark, where Bix first met Tram, and this place saw the likes of many other jazz greats too, as well as musical talents of other persuasions. Someone told me Jimi Hendrix signed his autograph on the wall in one of the back rooms. I also heard there are ghosts in this building.

But it is still very much alive today, especially during the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival held annually during the last weekend of July, where many more modern jazz legends feel blessed to have the opportunity to play on such a venerable stage.

Opening night of the festival finds Model A's lined outside the front door, ushering patrons into a true relic from the Jazz Age. Inside one will find a sizable dance floor, and long tables lined up in front, and a bar on each side, and a balcony in the back. Two searchlights from the back light the stage.

On the walls hang posters of past events that have taken place here, and I thought I'd share pictures of them:

Midsommardag i Stromsburg

2008-07-02T21:38:00.028-05:00

June 21, 2008

Stromsburg was first settled in the 1860s by a group of Swedish immigrants originally from Ockelbo, in Gästrikland, north of Stockholm. This group's leader was Lewis Headstrom, who was a real estate agent. The town is named after Strömsborg, a section of Ockelbo. They spent a while in Illinois before ultimately deciding to settle in Nebraska. The town is located about 90 miles (145 kilometers) west from Omaha. (click on map or any photograph for bigger image)

In the 1880s they had two brickyards in operation in the town. Several of the buildings around the town square feature this 'native' brick.

Every year the town has a Midsummer festival. This was my first time there. They had a smörgåsbord at the old high school gymnasium, which had more varied and unusual food items than any I've experienced before. They had activities at the library, and at the city park they had amusement park rides and game booths, and arts and crafts booths. At one of the booths was an author selling copies of his book about Nebraska history. They had Swedish folk dancing featuring different age groups, performed on a stage connected to a Swedish-style pavilion located in the middle of the park. As well, they had some Vikings come in from Omaha, to give demonstrations on methods of ancient warfare. And they had many other activities around town during the weekend festivities.

At 6:00 pm they had their big parade. They brought in participants from around the region. This year they had an African-American drill team from Salem Baptist Church in Omaha, who really impressed the crowd, and a Czech band from York performed in the parade also. And Shriners. There's always a few Shriners at most American parades.

After the parade was a talent contest in the park--a song contest, an instrumental contest, a dancing contest, and a joke-telling contest. Anybody was welcome to participate in it.

On the east side of the park they have a store with an old-fashioned soda fountain inside. I had an ice cream soda and it was delicious. Another store next door has some Swedish imports. On the south side is the old opera house, now used as a community center. On the north side is an old department store, which now is an oversized coffeehouse.

The sun sets just after 9:00 pm in Stromsburg on the longest day of the year, in case you were curious about that. The sun in Ockelbo probably sets much later on this day.