Empty Nest

Nancy and I took a big step towards empty nesterdom this week when we deposited Stephen and many of his wordly possessions at North Park University in Chicago where he is beginning his freshman year. Tuesday we traveled in two vehicles with the family of best friend and roommate John Robert Madsen to Woodale, Illinois outside Chicago where we had reservations. Wednesday was spent on campus participating in a variety of orientation activities for students and/or parents. The high point of the day for me was unloading the vans and bringing the boy's belongings to their third floor room. This was accomplished with the able of assistance of returning student/staff who did all of the carrying up the stairs. At 4:00 Stevie and I walked Nancy to the elevated train station near the campus. She took that train to the Amtrak station and proceeded to Galesburg to visit her parents down on the farm for a week. After one more parent session I said good bye and left for home at 5:30. In Chicago rush hour traffic it took me one hour to travel the first 25 miles. I arrived at home at 1:00 A.M. Study hard and have a great year Stevie and John.

Twins Game

I had one free ticket to last night's Twins game against the White Sox. It was probably one of the most exciting Twins games I've ever been to. The Twinkies were held hitless through the eighth inning when Jacque Jones hit a home run. It was the only hit the Twins got all night, but it was enough as they pulled out a 1-0 win. I heard on the radio its only the second time in Twins history that they've won a game with only one hit.

After the game I took a few pictures on the way back to my car. Here's one of them:

Good luck Stevie!

I had a good time over at Mom and Dad's house last night saying goodbye to Stevie as he embarks on his college adventure. Although I didn't realize that you were going to be staying on the "North Ark"? Is that something like Noah's Ark?. In any event, good luck Stevie!

On Sunday Maria participated in a lake baptism at Lake Minnewashta in Carver County. It was a very meaningful time, and some of the testimonies (including Maria's) were very touching. It was a beautiful night, and I was very proud of Maria for going up there and speaking as I'm sure it wasn't easy to do. Great job honey!


Maria is the third from the left in the water

goodbye

well I leave for chicago and northark today. I am excited and I am sure that it will be a lot of fun. wish me luck. goodbye familia.

New from Buford Avenue

We just learned that my Aunt Bev (who most of you know) died suddenly this morning. She had bypass surgery on Tuesday and was expected to go home tomorrow, but collapsed while walking. My uncle has not been doing well mentally and physically, so there will be many changes.

I got a second job as a part-time faculty member at Anoka-Ramsey Community College. I will be teaching a health class Monday nights. The only problem is I was hired on Tuesday and the class starts next Monday. So I've been busy developing my syllabus and curriculum in between drumming for "Music Man, Jr." at Como Pavilion.

8 - 17 - 87 EASY TO REMEMBER!

EASY TO REMEMBER THE DATE 8 - 17 - 87 ... so sorry I didn't!
I hope you had a great day, LIV! Congratulations on Eighteen years of enjoying life! Nancy

Happy 18th Birthday Livvi'i!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Princess Livvi'i!!!!

Minnesota Christian Ashram

We just got back from the Minnesota Christian Ashram at St John's University. We had a great time hanging out with family, worshipping and attending the various bible studies. View some pictures of the events:

HERE

wow! congrats!

Congratulations Tom and Beckie!

I just back from "the worlds largest underground hacker convention" - three *hot* days in Las Vegas, learning among other things how to hack using Google and how to get out a set of handcuffs.

A very good and educational time - though exhausting in the 107 degree heat.

no, I didn't use this ATM

BIG NEWS!!

Maria and I were in Webster, Wisconsin this weekend at her Godparent's cabin (see picture). We had a great time playing with all their assorted toys including their wave runner, ATVs, and boat. We both came away with a bit of sunburn, but had a wonderful and relaxing time.

OK, on to the big news (as was stated in my title). We got home tonight and noticed that we had a voicemail. We listened to it and found out that TOM & BECKIE ARE GETTING MARRIED!!


Sorry about the silly photo it's all i have. :)

We called him up and he regaled us with the tale of how he had proposed to her while they were on a mission trip to New York. I'm sure Tom will come on here and tell the story himself, so I won't spoil it. But let me be the first to say on this Blog - Congratulations Tom and Beckie!!

hey

I was just in new york city for a week. the high light of the week actually happened before I got to the city. we had a quick layover in chicago on the way there and I went for a walk in the airport. I sat down just to look out the window and when I looked up I saw jesse jackson sitting across from me. I called tom on his phone since he was on the other side of the airport and told him to come see jesse jackson, so he and beckie came over and sat down for a minute, but they were quickly intimidated and left. I made up my mind to shake his hand and after 10-15 minutes of gathering my courage I finally walked over to him and said hello as I extended my hand to shake his. He shook my hand but held up the index finger of his other hand to indicate that he was busy. I then realized that he was talking on the phone via an earpiece. boy was that embarrassing. so I ran off quickly with my tail between my legs.

Ikea

Yesterday my mom and I did some intense dorm shopping at Ikea. Today I assembled this awesome Malm endtable dealy with my new Fixa. Here I am representing Swedish pride.
-Liv

At Sandy and Dale's Cabin

Here are some pictures of the Peterson, Mueller, Anderson cousin get together on Lake Shamineau. Click this link to see Sandy's slideshow. (note: use Internet Explorer to watch the slideshow.) Sandy writes: "I also threw in a photo of our oldest son Jonathan. He and his girlfriend Abby and his friend from college, Byron Boone, came just after everyone left. Byron had just arrived at the half way point (Stillwater) on his bike trip across the US (Washington to Maine). "

The Sweltering City

Norris and I took a four-day road trip to Chicago this weekend. We had many adventures, including surviving a White Sox day game when the temperature was 102, sitting in the very top row of Wrigley Field watching a thunderstorm approach from behind us, getting lost multiple times, stomping out of Wisconsin Dells in a huff, and starting for home with a total of 29c for the many tollbooths ahead of us!

We also saw the science museum's "Body Worlds" exhibit, the Art Institute's Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit, the Brookfield Zoo, and Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio. The picture is from the new Millennium Park on the lake.

Happy Thirtieth Anniversary!!

Happy Anniversary, Joel & Teresa!
I thought about your anniversary when I was down in Illinois and on the trip back. I hope you had a great day. I was going to call you tonight, and then realized, "What couple wants a call from their sister-in-law on their anniversary?" ... Am I right? That was a beautiful picture, Liv!
Nancy

30

Happy 30th Anniversary to my parents. Woo! Here they are with their two absolutely adorable children.
Livvi'i

More pix

Happy birthday norris!

Here are some more pictures of the lot and surrounding area where our new home will actually be built.

Savanna Pointe Homesite

Happy Birthday Norris!!!

(click the picture)

Our little boy is 23!!

---

I won't nag anyone to *vote* for my podcast again (unless you want to) but.. maybe this is of interest...


A request went out to a consortium I'm part of called Podcast Minnesota
(http://podcastmn.com/) from the St. Paul Pioneer Press tech writer,
Julio Ojeda-Zapata, asking about "the iTune effect." I dropped him a
line (hit counts have gone from hundreds to consistently thousands a
day).

I actually had a phone interview with him about my podscast and why I'm doing
this. I sent him some links and info - heck I even sent him graphs
showing the impact. He didn't use much (any) of my information
overload, but at least I got ONE sentence:

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/business/12083209.htm

Podcasts get lift from 'iTunes effect'

Software thrusts geeky online personalities into mainstream

BY JULIO OJEDA-ZAPATA

Pioneer Press


Until last week, the Twin Cities' Wanda Wisdom had enjoyed only
marginal success with her podcast — a radio-like program offered
online as a digital file for subscribers to download and put on their
portable music players.

....
Joel Anderson of St. Paul said his "A Klingon Word from the Word"
podcast centered on the "Star Trek" aliens' guttural language saw a
tenfold increase in hits just after the new iTunes came out.
....

Congratulations! Now we know.....

where we can have *ALL* the Anderson get-togethers. Will there be a good place to play Kubb?!?

We bought a new house!

The Longport Model - Exterior

Maria and I recently began looking for new houses. We found exactly what we were looking for in a new development in Shakopee - The Longport 4br 4 bath single family home. Here is an artists rendering of our new, yet to be built, home.

To check out more pics and floor plans of our new house, click here