The Nerd Olympics

I spent last week in Omaha, Nebraska at the Nerd Olympics. Actually, it's called the United States Academic Decathon. But that's just no fun to say. The group came to be lovingly called "Nerd Squad" and their meetings were "Nerd practice."

Abram was on the team for his high school, and they won the Oregon championship last February, which allowed them to compete in nationals last week. As I have a past history with the city of Omaha, I was eager to go along as a chaperone. The past 2 months the kids spent furiously trying to learn everything they could about the French Revolution, chemistry, Frech Rev-era art, French Rev-era music, language and literature, economics, math. In addition, the competitors also wrote an essay based on Tale of Two Cities/Charles Dickens (which I coached them on) and also gave a 4-minute prepared and 2-minute impromtu speech, and had an interview. 10 events, thus the name decathlon.

A little known fact is that Abram's team has an ACTUAL decathete on the team. A guy who has scholarships to both Duke and Arkansas to be a decathlete for their track team. In fact, all around, Abram's school was probably the most normal bunch of kids in Omaha. They all have lives, they play sports, instruments, and do many other extra-curricular things that make them well-rounded individuals. The other schools at the competition all take this USAD thing very seriously. They have a class each day in school to be taught the stuff, and they are not allowed to do ANYTHING else. No sports, no music lessons. It's AD every day after school for at least 2 hours. Our kids did it for fun and on their own time, other than these last 2 months of force-feeding Charles Dickens and helping perfect speeches .

In the end, Oregon came in 23rd out of about 37 states that were represented. Not bad for a bunch of rag-tag kids with real lives. Nobody was disappointed at all. They were all just happy to have beaten their rival school for the state championship. Omaha was an afterthought. Next year the national competition is in Charlotte, NC, and I really want to go. So I will be doing everything in my power to teach the team Grapes of Wrath and everything else I can about great depression-era lit.

While I was there, I did a little sight-seeing. I took along 2 other parents, as I had rented a car and knew the town, I knew that there was nothing to do around the convention center/hotel we were staying in. The parents who were there as well were so much fun to be with, and they were good sports following me along like I was a mother duck. We went to Winter Quarters. When we lived in Omaha, it was just a trailer and a cemetary. Now is is a beatiful brick visitors center with a stunning temple on the hill. It was incredible. No matter your religion, the story of pioneers is the basis for the whole westard expansion of our country. That brutal winter of 1846-47 killed nearly 500 pioneers at Winter Quarters.

We also went to the zoo. Henry Doorly Zoo is one of the best zoos I have ever been to. What kind of zoo could 3 adults spend 5 hours in and have them wishing they had more time? I found this butterfly bench there, and I need to have one made for our backyard.
Lunch, of course, was spent at Bronco Burgers. I was hoping the burgers lived up to my memory, and they did not disappoint. I was thinking that they had just seemed so good when we lived there because we were so poor and we rarely went out to eat anywhere. But no, they really are just the best burgers. Well, maybe they are tied with Hires. But still so yummy

I drove through my university, and also through Creighton University. It was actually amazing to me how well I still knew the roads. I took a drive to the projects where we lived when Abram and Aubrey were born. It was fun to see the old places, and fun to think how far we've come since we left there 14 years ago. For instance, I only had 2 kids when we moved away.

The most fun thing of all was the excellent lightning storm we had on Friday night. I had honestly been praying to see a cool storm during our visit. I loved the storms while we lived there. I secretly had always wished to see a tornado, but that never happend. I watched the weather all week, and Friday morning I knew a storm was on its way. It was rainy and muggy, and then the sun came out and heated everything up. Later that evening, the cumulus clouds because cumulonimbus clouds, and I knew I was in for a treat.

I was out at dinner in the Old Market with the 2 other parents that night, and I felt the wind change to the east; and then a sudden downpour of rain told me my dreams were about to come true. The parents were laughing at how excited I was about the weather. I told them that I hadn't asked for a barometer for Christmas when I was 11 for nothing.

It would be an understatment to say that I have always been completely fascinated with weather.

We drove back to the hotel as the lightning started its show. When I got to the hotel, I dropped off my ducklings, and headed out again to find a good place to watch the storm. I found a park on the Missouri river with a wide-open view of the eastern sky. It was magical.