Hi all:

My cousin Ann and I went to a "palm weaving festival" today out at St. Boniventure Church in Bloomington. We thought we'd be making all kinds of wonderful things with our palms from church tomorrow, but it was hard! We ended up making a mini-crown of thorns, a rose, a fish, a cross, and a pinecone, but we will never be able to remember how to do them again (being too cheap to buy the manual or video). Most of the instructors were elderly nuns who are trying to keep this ancient art alive; when asked how to contact them with questions, one replied, "Just send me e-mail."

I found this picture on the Internet of the Sister spearheading this project with some examples:

Good luck, Liv!


Liv (or Livvi'i, as she likes to spell it) is heading off to Duluth today for the State Science Fair. Have a great trip, Liv, I know you'll do well!


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Great interview, Mae! I shared it with friends (who are sci-fi geeks); we thought asking what HE was reading was good - interesting stuff, thanks for sharing it!

Here is a funny site that has flubbed subtitles for foreign movies..

If the enemy's bottom is attacked, it is painful.

Swedes in Space! :

Kind of interesting - spaceflights and experiments aren't ALL satellites and space shuttles!

I am so sorry to hear of the death of your schoolmate. I heard about it on the news and Pete told me that it was the boy that you knew. How sad. Some people can be so dumb to think that violence will solve something so trivial. His mom must be having a hard time since he was her only child. At least she has the comfort of knowing what exactly happened to cause her sons death. The guy that I graduated with who was found dead in the river, well his family will probably never know how he died. Which has to be so hard. Your life can be taken so fast. It's just a good reminder to cherish everyday as if it were your last.

Thank you Maria. Unfortunately Ben passed away this afternoon. We don't know too much information, but this is the article from the Pioneer Press yesterday. If you could keep his mother and friends in your prayers that would be nice. Thanks.
St. Paul police are seeking help in identifying three young men who chased and seriously beat a 15-year-old boy as he and several other boys left the Washington Middle School recreation center Monday night in St. Paul's North End.
The boy, who neighbors identified as Ben Doran, was listed in critical condition at Regions Hospital.
A family friend, who declined to be identified, said Doran, a sophomore at Como Park Senior High School, is the only child of his single mother. The family friend described the youth as a likable kid who loved basketball.
Doran had left the center and was walking with three other boys in the 1000 block of Woodbridge Avenue about 8:15 p.m. Monday when a car pulled up next to the group. Words were exchanged and the occupants of the car got out and started chasing the four boys.
"Three older kids caught our victim and assaulted him," said St. Paul Police Cmdr. Nancy Di Perna, who heads the homicide unit.
Investigators said the assailants, about 19 to 23 years old, beat Doran with their hands and feet and made statements indicating the attack was in retaliation for a previous incident.
The boy was able to walk as far as a block and a half before collapsing. A woman on a cell phone placed the first of many 911 calls to police notifying them about the attack.
Witnesses said the assailants got out of a newer silver or gray sports car with a white placard where the license plate would have been. The placard had a red script logo that said "Wayzata,'' possibly from a car dealership in Wayzata.

That sounds just terrible Liv. Why was he beaten? Was it some kids at school? It's amazing how things like that put your life in perspective. Your everyday problems seem so small when you think about people like your friend Ben. Hope he gets back to normal soon.

Prayers
Speaking of people you could pray for, a student at my school, Ben, was severely beaten on Monday evening. He is currently in critical condition, but is off life support which is good. Yesterday he opened his eyes and twitched during a nerve test, which is also good. I've been in Ben's classes since kindergarten, so if ya'll could keep him in your prayers that would be great.
Livvi'i

On Washington Avenue....

that was me. A colleague and I were on our way to talk about critical servers with some people from Academic Health Center. Afterwards I had Chick-Fil-A for lunch in (the NEW IMPROVED) Coffman.

Hi Everybody!
Mae's little Bobo (or should I say Koko's?) reminded me of my "Pinkie" that I took to college. (It was gray by then) and my roommate Ruta had the same kind of faded old gnarly puppy. My memory has faded somewhat, but it seems to me that at the end of the year the two of them got into the same box and stole away together.
Teresa, when your story started unfolding, I thought it was someone playing an April Fool's joke on you. That is really great! Is he the one that you had a diet coke with on St. Patty's day? John, I'm happy noone got hurt during your seminar. Janelle, you're a great workshop presenter as well... Wow, What a Family!! I saw you today, Joel, at the U., walking along Washington Av., undoubtedly on your way to present a seminar (9:50 a.m.) Peter gets to do seminars for car dealers all the time... now there's an audience for you!
Stevie had a great time in Chicago with Tom, as it sounds everyone but me gets to do!

Maria, I sure will pray for your cousin Jason. (I have a cousin in Indiana also, as do many of you.) Some of you remember my cousin Tom Hammerberg, who, with his wife Betsy, lived on Valentine, a block from J. & T. Her brother Daniel Fitzsimmons is a Blackhawk helicopter medical evac. pilot currently in Iraq. This gives us names of people we can pray for.
Our computer was down for quite awhile and then we were in Illinois, so I didn't get to invite y'all to Stevie's youth group fundraising dinner... It's on Saturday night at 6:30... call me up if anyone is interested. It's a mystery theater event, and you could pick your character if you're interested in dressing up and playing a part. Have a great week! Nancy

Yesterday when I got to work, Robin told me I had a "foreign-sounding gentleman" on the phone, so I quickly answered (still in my jacket), anticipating some kind of problem as I never get phone calls. Instead it was the head of the World Health Organization's Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety, wondering if I could come to Geneva in June to make a presentation at their meeting! I had met him in France and seen him for a few minutes in Chicago, and he seemed to think that he had mentioned this to me already, but it came as rather a surprise to me. He also said something about perhaps my doing some additional consulting for WHO. I was like, "Are you sure you have the right person?..." I guess I am now an expert on good and bad immunization websites. Deborah (the boss who gave me the opportunity to go to the French meeting instead of her) was very nice about it, fortunately. So we'll see what develops... I won't worry my mother about it for a while!

Well, I just found out that my cousin from Indiana was officially deployed to Iraq today. He is in the army and we are all very concerned for him. His name is Jason and if you could all keep him in your prayers, it would be greatly appreciated.

Bobo the Bear!



Like Citizen Kane's Xanadu, basements can be incredible treasure troves filled with amazing things. Recently discovered in our basement was a poor abandoned fellow we're calling "Bobo". We think his mother ran away to the Big Apple - does she still remember her little Bobo?




Uh-oh!



Looks like Bobo may have been adopted already....

Hey, what's up -- this is John. Hope everyone is well in the North Country. I won't bore you all with how green it is getting down here, how many flowers are blooming, etc.

I wanted to let everyone know that Lynda and I are coming to MN. I'm attending a conference downtown with a poster presentation. We'll be in town from the evening of 4/30 through the afternoon of Sunday 5/5. We'll be staying at the meeting hotel downtown (well, why not?) but hope to spend as much time with you all as possible.

Things are well here -- I recently did a long bike ride on my recumbent bike -- the Tour of Pike County Georgia (the main town is Zebulon, by the way). Also, this week I did my seminar at Emory U. that Ingrid mentioned. I think it went pretty well, at least no one got hurt...Lynda and I are planning 2 bike vacations -- to White Springs, FL in April (which has among other things the Sewanee River and the Stephen Foster museum -- although he was never there). And we just rented a cottage for 5 nights on Orcas Island, Washington for July -- we'll go up there and do some biking in the San Juan Islands after Lynda's early music workshop out there. See you all soon.

John

ZZzzzzz....

Woke up this morning ... seemed too light out, and the alarm clock was *BLANK*! Uh-oh.

Our power was out - probably for about 5 hours. Quickly scrambled to wake Liv and Norris. Liv got to the bus okay (on time, even!).

Power came back on around 7:30, and I got to work around one hour late ... BIKING, of course!

Hey thanks Tom for the bit of encouragment. I know that if you were here, I could definitely count on you. You are the best!

Anyways, my birthday spent with my parents and Pete was a lot of fun. We went out to dinner at my favorite restaurant downtown called Copelands of New Orleans. My parents got me my favorite flowers...peach roses! Then afterwards we just rented the movie "Trapped" and went back over to my parents house to watch it on the big screen. We were going to possibly go bowling downtown, but since my mom was still not feeling well, we decided to take it easy.

Then on Saturday, Pete took me out to dinner at Palominos downtown. We had heard it had really good food, but I dont think I ordered the right thing. Pete's pork chop was delicious though. Then he took me to the Sheraton hotel for the night. We always have such fun together. It's so true that your spouse is your best friend. I love you honey!

Then on Sunday we went over to Mark and Nancys for the afternoon to celebrate my birthday and Nancys. The weather was just beautiful and it was a perfect day to grill hamburgers on the grill. They were delicious by the way. We played several rounds of Yahtzee and Pictionary.

Despite my brothers absence, my birthday was a great time. Thanks everyone for making it such a special weekend for me.

I also wanted to add that when Pete and I were in Chicago we went and ate at Giordanos and I definitely agree with Tom that they have the best pizza ever. You guys looked like you had a good time.

Well, I suppose I should go home now from work. I have been here way too long. Take care everyone!

Hello,

So I rented a car, invited my roommate to join me, and spent two days in Chicago for spring break. It was great to see Tom! I'm sorry I couldn't make it up in time to see Teresa and Norris (unexpected car trouble) but hopefully I'll get to see everyone again soon. My roommate, Liana, and I spent some time at the art institute (and heard a lecture there), at Navy Pier (there's a great stained glass window museum there, and a ferris wheel), and the Sears Tower--but the highlight was definitely hanging out with Tom, eating Chicago pizza and listening to the blues. Click on the photo for a few more pictures:



Look, we're in Chicag-

Ancestors!

The other day, Liv noticed a deal on AOLwhere ancestry.com had free searches available on the complete 1930 US census. On a whim she entered her Great Grandpa Hans Asper's name, and found it (That was pretty easy, as there were only two entries - one in South Dakota, and another in Illinois). [note: Those free searches might only work if you are using AOL. When I tried it with a regular browser, it seemed to want me to buy a subscription.]

Digging a little more I went for Andersons and Petersons! (brings to mind another joke from Paul's joke book, about lakes in Minnesota). It took a little more time, but I did find Mae (May) and Fred! Here is a portion of their entries (click on the link for a blow-up):






You can search for more on Ancestry.com - I have the full pages downloaded, but they are pretty big - I can print them out and bring them to the next family gathering.

Maria, if I were in Minneapolis I would come- in fact, I would take the bus to get there. Happy Birthday!

Ingrid (and her roomate Leanne is that right Ingrid?) was in town last night and I thought we weren't going to be able to hang out because I had a conflict- but the conflict fell through so we got together and showed Chicago how to party! Well, maybe not like that exactly. First we went to Giordano's pizzeria, which is the best Chicago pizza as far as I am concerned. http://www.giordanos.com

Then we got coffee and waited around for some live music and headed over to the Blue Chicago for some real Chicago blues. http://www.bluechicago.com

Then we jumped on the redline (we needed the same train) and I headed back home and they went back to their hostel which Ingrid called, "spectacular!" She didn't stop raving about how wonderful it was and how nice their new roomates were. Ingrid took pictures so hopefully she'll post them.

Tom.

Thanks everyone for your birthday wishes. So far my birthday has been good. I came into work this morning and there was a bouquet of spring flowers from my co-workers and then Pete came and brought me lunch along with a bouquet of carnations and a balloon. However, my brother Tom hasnt been very nice to me. He isnt coming to my birthday celebration just because he doesnt want to drive downtown to the restaurant that I want to go to. He also told me that my birthday is such a chore for him and that I am being selfish cause I want to go to a specific restaurant for my birthday. Like he should talk about being selfish!! Anyways, I just needed to vent about it. My other brother is sick, but that's something that he cant help. I am just sad that he wont be able to be there. So, I guess it's just going to be my parents, Pete and I. I am glad that they are able to come and I know that the four of us will have fun, it's just the thought of my brother not willing to sacrifice one evening for his only sister. At least I have two other brothers...Tom and Stevie. But I am trying not to let my brother bother me and ruin my day. Plus, all the sweet things that other people are doing for me are making up for it.