Yesterday we went to a beautiful wedding for our friends Steph and Chad in Hastings, NE. Hastings is just over 100 miles west of Lincoln. That may seem far, but to be honest, it took about as much time to get there as it used to take me to get to work in Washington, DC (if not less!). I took some pictures on the way out to give you an idea of what Central Nebraska looks like. All my pictures kind of look the same—lots of sky, corn fields and grass—so I’ll only post one. You get the idea.

If you want to see pics of the wedding, they are in a gallery here. I wish I could have captured more moments, but the bride and groom were always on the go! I have a lot of blurry shots. Also, our battery camera died right before their first dance. But there are enough to give you a taste of how beautiful everything was.

This used to be my commute.

At Interstate 495 and New Hampshire Avenue, cars simultaneously exit and enter the Beltway while others merge right to head north on Interstate 95, and all of this takes place in a quarter-mile stretch. News4 viewers named it one of the worst merge areas in Maryland.

We are moving into our new office next Monday, and I timed the commute. 15 minutes. That’s walking with birds singing in the trees, green grass, and if I’m lucky, a few geese hanging out on the water. Drive time: less than two minutes. Really. It’s the coolest commute I’ve ever had.

Sorry the blog and email have been so quiet lately. Thank you for all of the lovely comments, emails and cards. We are grateful to have such wonderful family and friends. Be back in touch soon!

If you were watching CNN and saw our area in a big red box, don’t worry. It is sunny and warm. We hardly got any rain. The tornado was south of us in Gage County.

I had to laugh about the news priorities in Lincoln tonight. Programming was interrupted for the weather, of course. When the storm threat was over, we went back to programming, which was the news. You see, there was 15 minutes left until The Ten Commandments started, which is a 4 1/2 hour movie. The news had to get coverage of Spring Training in before the movie started. No, we’re not talking baseball, but you probably already figured that out, didn’t you? Yes, Spring Training for Husker Football started today. Can you believe it? Over 57,000 people showed up for a scrimmage game. (Yes, you read that right — a scrimmage game.) I don’t think I’ll ever get used to football in April.

Hi all. Jeff has posted a thank you in the last post’s comments to all the wonderful lincolnblog readers who reached out to help Trey. There is also a website with information on donations (in case you just can’t bring yourself to buy another gadget from Pampered Chef, which is possible, but hard to believe!). The website is www.treystransplant.com and also has updates on how Trey is doing. The latest news is that Trey had been placed on the active transplant list. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers!

I don’t usually post things like this, but Jeff Gulzow is a client and a friend. His baby needs a liver transplant and insurance doesn’t cover all of the costs. (Imagine that!) I know a lot of lincolnblog readers don’t actually live in Lincoln, so you can’t attend any of the benefit dinners or lunches, but everyone needs a kitchen gadget or two from Pampered Chef, right? Or maybe you can take what you spent on lattes this week and send it to Trey instead. For more information, email: treysemail@gmail.com

Way back when, before I moved in with T, before I had cable, I watched five channels on television. Not much was on those five channels. The only shows that were any good were Must See TV on Thursdays and the X Files on Friday. So I watched a lot of baseball. Orioles games became the official soundtrack of summer.

The past few summers in Nebraska have been rough with out major league baseball. We have the Salt Dogs and there’s also Husker baseball, but I didn’t grow up here or go to UNL. They just aren’t my teams. You can take the girl out of Balmer, hon, but you can’t take the Balmer out of the girl. So, this season I ordered MLB Gameday Audio and I’ve been really pleased with it so far. I listened to all of spring training and opening day. It’s only $15 for the entire season, and I can listen to it with my web browser. I can also plug my laptop into the stereo and listen to it on our living room speakers. Cool, huh? Now, let’s just try and win some, ok birds?