The Globe--Other travels included numerous trips by Quinn and Josie to visit Grandma, Char and Ted. Grandma Metal is doing well after her hip surgery and some problems with congestive heart disease. She is amazing.

David visited Washington, DC twice as well as San Diego, and Philadelphia. The obligatory photo in Philly is the Rocky run to the top of the museum steps with arms raised overhead. Corbin could not find anyone to snap the shot for him--Adriaaaaan! Quinn visited Bosnia and Croatia with her friend Ida, Ida's brother Igor and Ida's boyfriend, Chris. Her semester of Serbian at Pitt came in handy after all.

Omaha--Josie was named as a Fellow of the Center for Great Plains Studies, Quinn has made the dean's list in all three semesters and is a member of UNO's Showcase singers and was inducted into the Spanish honorary. David was named to the advisory committee of The Nation's Health, the country's most prestigeous public health newspaper. David will also assume the presidency of the UNO chapter of the American Association of University Professors this year. The operative word is "assume."
David's flower and vegetable gardens prospered this year. See web page for photos.

Anywhere--Why do people line up to win hundreds of millions of dollars in the lottery but not for a chance at a measly $20 million? Why does it take a five syllable word ("monosyllabic") to define a one syllable word? If you take the small intestine and stretch it from end to end, it will be extremely painful. Do nuclear families cause cancer? The egg came long before the chicken but it wasn't a chicken egg. Did the ancient Greeks know they were ancient? A woman on one side of the river yells to a man across the river: "How do I get to the other side?" The man responds: "You're on the other side." Plato said: " The life which is unexamined is not worth living." Dean Sluyter said: "The unlived life is not worth examining." George Santayana said: Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. David Corbin said: "Those who cannot condemn the past are destined to remember it."

Omaha--Through a grant from the U.S. State Department, the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) hosted thirteen women teachers from Afghanistan who came to learn about various education methods and materials that are used in the U.S. David Corbin led one session on health education and Josie Metal-Corbin orchestrated an art banner project. UNO is the only university in the U.S. with a Center for Afghanistan Studies (isn't UNO an obvious choice for such a center?). It was an eye opening experience for people at UNO. While a health concern in the U.S. is safety in our little kids crossing the street; in Afghanistan a major safety concern is to teach kids how to avoid landmines. While we quibble about up-to-date books and things like air conditioning, they worry about not having any books or windows or blackboards! Some of the teachers were clandestinely teaching girls during the Taliban regime, despite the prohibition. David will be raising funds to help de-mine Afghanistan. A mine is not a terrible thing to waste.

Omaha--Since Quinn has returned to Omaha to attend UNO for which she gets 30 free tuition credit hours per year, her saved money that was for tuition elsewhere has been invested in a house where she now lives. Her boyfriend, Vince, gave her a dachshund puppy. The puppy's name is Fiona and she gets along very well with Josie and David's dog, Ruza (whose jaw problem is now greatly improved). The photo below illustrates the dogs' special bond.

In addition, Quinn won a local contest to participate in "Trading Spaces" on the local Fox News network. David and Josie redecorated the master bedroom in her house and Quinn and Vince redecorated Quinn's old bedroom in their house. Each had a different interior decorator and a $1000 budget per room. The piece aired on the Fox News on two separate segments.