Something to Bookmark

Wikipedia is a good web-based encyclopedia where you can cull some useful information. One of the neat things about this web-pedia is that it is mainained by the world's population. You can tweak or add anything you want. Here is what it has to say about Kearney, Nebraska. I added the sentence about the Arch...we'll see if it stays...or if someone removes it later :)

Kearney is a city located in Buffalo County, Nebraska. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 27,431. It is the county seat of Buffalo County6. It is the location of University of Nebraska at Kearney. Kearney is also the location of the Museum of Nebraska Art, home of the state's official art collection. A more recent addition to the Kearney landscape is the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument spanning Interstate 80. The city was named after nearby Fort Kearny (sic), a United States Army outpost along the Oregon Trail in the middle 19th century that was itself named after Stephen W. Kearny.
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Geography

Kearney is located at 40°42'3" North, 99°4'52" West (40.700731, -99.081150)1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 29.0 km² (11.2 mi²). 28.4 km² (11.0 mi²) of it is land and 0.6 km² (0.2 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 1.96% water.
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Demographics

As of the census2 of 2000, there are 27,431 people, 10,549 households, and 6,160 families residing in the city. The population density is 964.6/km² (2,498.5/mi²). There are 11,099 housing units at an average density of 390.3/km² (1,010.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 95.18% White, 0.63% African American, 0.38% Native American, 0.92% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 1.68% from other races, and 1.17% from two or more races. 4.08% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 10,549 households out of which 30.3% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.7% are married couples living together, 9.7% have a female householder with no husband present, and 41.6% are non-families. 28.7% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.5% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.37 and the average family size is 2.96.

In the city the population is spread out with 22.2% under the age of 18, 23.9% from 18 to 24, 26.2% from 25 to 44, 17.1% from 45 to 64, and 10.6% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 27 years. For every 100 females there are 92.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 89.7 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $34,829, and the median income for a family is $46,650. Males have a median income of $30,150 versus $22,366 for females. The per capita income for the city is $17,713. 13.4% of the population and 7.4% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 11.8% of those under the age of 18 and 8.9% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Tom Tom Go!!!!

I was looking over some pictures I've taken over the last year. Here's one taken in Orlando as I was making my way to Tampa. As you can see, Tom Tom Go, the GPS device was on the job. You can see the crazy Mickey Mouse shaped telephone poles.

Night Night Lexi

We sold the Lexus yesterday and it is nice to be down to 2 cars again. We sold it to a lawyer and his wife in Sacramento for $15K which was a fair price for both of us and certainly met our expectations for what we had hoped to get out of it. It was right in line with Kelly Blue Book. We had talked with the Lexus dealer a week prior and they had offered us $11k on the spot claiming "all used cars are in Fair condition". The Lexus guy also, under his breath, recommended that we sell it ourselves and we would do much better.

Pokie the dog to meet maker

I had a trial today versus a man who failed to confine a vicious dog named Pokie. This dog ended up biting a 3 year old child riding his bike with his mother. I was successful and getting the death penalty for Pokie. Sad because I like dogs, but necessary. Reminds me of the time "Jet" the dog, who belonged to the Nortons across the street, bit me. I was standing in our yard and Jet came over and bit my arm. I also remember when our neighborhood was terrorized by that nasty Great Dane from the Lilly's neighborhood. Robert and I both had a few narrow escapes with that dog. I remember Mom shooting it with a bb gun when it would come around. As I recall it eventually ended up biting C.C. Siderinko and getting put down.

Bill eats a Six Dollar Burger

My friend Mullins has been raving about these things lately. I ate one when they first came out and got sick. This time, I did it without the mayo and it was a good eating experience. If you want to see more photos of the six dollar adventure, go to my homepage. There's a link to the right.

Bad News Bears spells bad news for moviegoers

I saw Bad News Bears. BIG mistake. This thing was barely watchable. The only reason I went was because I like Billy Bob Thornton. He had some good lines but other than that this thing sucked like few other films. DO NOT go see it. DO NOT rent it. DO NOT go anywhere near this dog.

Neil Diamond

Some friends of mine have an in for free tickets to the Neil Diamond concert in Omaha this coming Tuesday. SWEET CAROLINE! Looks like I'm going to see the last great American showman live and in person!

What I'm Listening to Right Now

Kind of a Blue Man Group meets Electronica sound.

livestock adds realism to layout

I added a cow as suggested and I think you will agree it really helped. While I was at it I added a hood emblem to my 1992 Ford Taurus. (taurus gets brontosaurus you dig?)

a picture of some trains

dad takes picture

here it is

a train set

Mom files lawsuit

I'm helping Mom sue a guy in small claims court. She filed the case today. The jerk's name is Scott Redden. He was to put siding on Mom's house for $4000. He took $2000 up front and then never showed up to do any work. After he was in clear breach of contract for failure to perform, Mom asked for her $2000 back. He said he didn't have it. He spent it. He's going through a divorce and it's a real tough time. Asshole. I talked to him today on the phone. Same sob story. The court date is set for September 15th.

HOT HOT HOT

We've had a full week of 100+ degree days in Sac. and the forecast calls for it to continue through next week too. The beagles aren't too happy with the heat.

I resent that remark!

My Civic Si has 160 horses under the hood! So the 'Stang only has like 3 times the ponys, nowhere near that outlandish 4x number you were talking about!

Mustang Cobra SVT Prototype

One of the cool things we did on our recent trip to Michigan was get to drive a 500 horsepower prototype Mustang Cobra. Here is a snap or two of the auto. The thing accelerated like no car I've ever been in with about 4 times the horsepower as the weasel's Civic. Other people on the road would kind of get scared and intimidated just from hearing the engine...and with good reason.

Steph and I both drove the car, which was being worked on by Jen's boyfriend's company.


Here's another snap of Steph enjoying the auto.

Harry Potter / Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Photos from my exciting adventures leading up to the release of the new Harry Potter book are up on my website! There is a link to the right of this post (click Bill's Homepage) to find them.

I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory today. It was pretty good. I like Johnny Dep and the movie had that special dark Tim Burton look to it. Go for Dep's performance as Will Wonka. I may go see The Wedding Crashers tomorrow. A movie also getting good reviews on the whole.

She was Potter night!

I have a friend who works at the Waldenbooks in the mall so I helped out with some pre-Potter festivities. And of course got the book at midnight! I got an early opportunity to see the boxes of the new book before the public release.

She's Potter Night

Debating whether to take my camera and head to Borders tonight. Assuming they will be open selling the latest Potter book. Steph says she will NOT be going with.

Hung jury

Hung jury. Mistrial. New trial next month.

Still no verdict

It's 2:30 and the jury has been deliberating all day. Two notes sent out indicate a deadlock. Instruction from the judge: continue deliberations. We could have a hung jury, but that's better than a "not guilty".

Jury Trial

My stabbing jury trial went really well today. The jury has deliberated for close to 2 hours and quit at around 5:30 and will continue tomorrow morning at 9:00am. I was happy with my performance so win or lose it was good. It's a tight case which is why it went to a jury trial in the first place. We'll see how it turns out tomorrow!

Dad's Plastic Man dream

Give up hope Dad. It's never going to happen.

Fantastic Four

I saw the Fantastic Four movie. I have to say I did enjoy it maybe in large part because I used to read the comic book as a kid. It may not be the best of the super hero movies but it is pretty cool nonetheless. As for you Dad, seeing this movie may be the closest you'll ever get to realizing your dream of Plastic Man coming to the big screen.

The Fox, The Hound and The Bluebird

We were walking the beagles yesterday on the standard short walk and I heard a blue bird squawking like no tomorrow. I glanced in the direction of the bird and there was a fox just standing there in the lawn looking at us. After looking at the fox for a minute we took off. The fox turned around shortly thereafter and then I saw that bluebird take a dive towards the fox as they are sometimes known to do.

Message from the future

Is this terrible vision from the future what WILL be or what MAY be? I am transformed into a cyborg bent on world domination. All while video chatting with Mulliins over Sunday morning black coffee!!!

So Much to Blog...

I've got lots of stuff to blog and will try to get it up this week-end. Here's the first...As you are probably all aware - the rare and though extinct Ivory Billed Woodpecker has been discovered in Arkansas. Here is the link to see the story and the confirming video. Hard for me to tell the flying bird is an IBW but the bird folks say it is so.

IBW Video Link

Steph's turn

Since Dad is putting random pictures of me on the blog, I figured Steph should have her blog photo debut. Here's a snap of Robert, Steph, and the Dak from my recent trip to Sacramento.

Father knows wurst

I am testing my ability to post a picture. This one is old news but just for test.

Here is new news: Yesterday I bought a 42" plasma TV at Sam's for $2500. It is
a Phillips. McCloud had spent weeks researching the matter and bought this one
for himself so I just did the same.

I am working at the house in Bay this week.

Dr. Good Guy

The various names for knock offs of the soft drink Dr. Pepper have always interested me. Sometimes Robert, for reasons unknown, refers to actual Dr. Pepper as "Pheeb". Coke has a knock off called "Mr. Pibb". Wal-Mart's fake Dr. Pepper is called "Dr. Thunder". I've seen another knock off in the local Sunmart grocery store that simply goes by the name of "Doctor". For awhile, Pepsi was putting out a version called "Dr. Slice". Sometimes Will speaks of another clone of old called "Dr. Nut".
Well this weekend in Arizona I came across "Dr. Good Guy". F$%&ing crazy man!!!!

More Phoenix

Here I am with my friends Dan and Mitsuko. We were eating at a place called Cave Creek Coffee. Cave Creek might ring a bell because the Cave Creek complex wildfire continues to rage and has been in national news. We could see the smoke and roads near the fire were all closed.

More on Dad's Guacamole (It ain't Mission Brand)

Backstory for those who don't know: For a Mexican themed Super Bowl party, my Dad bought Mission brand guacamole dip. Upon inspection, he discovered that there was NO AVOCADO in the guacamole dip. Instead it was full of things like hydrogenated oils and food coloring. Dad wasn't happy. (Here's a link to an article about these awful dips http://www.newstarget.com/002702.html )

Anyway Dad, this weekend in Phoenix my friends and I ate at a great Mexican place. We ordered guacamole dip and a man came and made it in front of us using real avocado!!! The dip was great!

Rick Springfield / Ingram Hill Concert

We all went to the Muskegon Summer Celebration last night to see Rick Springfield. Opening was Ingram Hill, a band from Memphis with potential.

As for Rick, it was a mixed bag. He didn't seem to be "on" at the beginning of the show but definitely improved about 1/3 of the way in. The audience, most of whom, in our section only were aware of 1 Rick Springfield song....yep, Jessie's Girl started getting a bit restless. Steph and Jen commented that they're parents "looked like they were sitting in a hospital" which seemed appropriate. As a Springfield fan, I enjoyed hearing some of the old standards including Love Somebody, Affair of the Heart, Human Touch and Don't Talk to Strangers. He sprinkled in some of his new stuff which people couldn't quite relate to but you've certainly got to give the guy credit for still coming out with new material. He has a new album of cover songs coming out next week in fact.

Just before the first encore the DeBruyn family had had enough so we left with nary a song from the classic Tao album. Oh well. Next time, Steph and I vowed to drive separately :)

Snap of Rick and Barb from Rick's Retirement Bash 

My turn at bat: this is your father (or uncle) speaking.

I have it on good authority that Batman Returns (Keaton 1992) is the best bat-flick and that the new Batman: The Beginning is weak by comparison. To check this out, I went out and bought Batman (Keaton 1989) and Batman Returns. I then watched them in sequence, although I had seen both. These are both good flicks, and I agree with my source critic that K92 surpasses K89, mostly because Catwoman trumps Vicky Vale and DeVito trumps Nicholson. I will check out the new one when it comes to Betamax.

I saw the original War of the Worlds, made in roughly 1953, as a kid. I liked it a lot. It is one of the few flicks from my youth still memorable to me.

In Phoenix

My trip didn't involve blind kids, but I did manage to snag an emergency exit row. We ate at a great mexican place where the man made guacamole in front of us from fresh ingredients including avacado. I asked him where the palm oil was and he was confused. Dad would know what I mean with his tub of Mission Guac.

Muskegon or Bust

Steph and I headed to Michigan last night on the red-eye out of Sacramento. Just after "taking our ticket" as we were pulling into the economy parking lot a parking attendant employee flagged us down to ask..."are you looking to park?" the response, of course, was a rather dumbfounded "well - yes"

We were then on the plane bound for Chicago and in front of us were several blind kids (late teens) taking what seemed to be one of their first airplane trips alone. As we were deboarding one of these kids seemed to have lost her bag. A lady, trying to help while looking up in the overhead bins quizzed the blind girl, "Was it a black bag or a brown bag?" The girl responded quite cooly, "I don't know"

Made it to MI OK though - just a bit tired despite haven't slept most of the way.