NCAA D1 Volleyball National Semifinals

Jaren Wilkey/BYU

The NCAA D1 Volleyball National Semifinals will take place Thursday in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

In the first semifinal, BYU will face #2 Texas at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2. BYU reached the semifinals by defeating #6 Florida State 3-1 and #14 Nebraska 3-0. Texas swept #15 Colorado State 3-0 and #7 North Carolina 3-1.

In the second semifinal, #1 Stanford will play #5 Penn State at 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Stanford defeated Oregon State 3-1 and swept #8 Florida 3-0 in the regionals. Penn State swept #12 UCLA and beat Big Ten conference winner #4 Wisconsin 3-1.

The winners will meet Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the National Championship on ESPN2.

David R. Lutman

Final Cross Country races

Chris Hornbecker

The cross country season has come to an end. The Nike Cross Nationals or NXN were held on December 6 in Portland, Oregon.

Fayetteville-Manlius out of New York won the girls title with 70 points over Great Oak (California) with 149 points and Carmel (Indiana) with 173 points. Overall girls winner was Allie Ostrander from Kenai High School in Alaska in 17:19.

Fayetteville-Manlus also won the boys title with

Runnerspace.com

111 points. Wayzata from Minnesota placed second with 159 points and North Central (Washington) was third with 178 points. Tanner Anderson from North Central (Washington) won the individual title in 15:11.

Watch the NXN Girls Race
Watch the NXN Boys Race

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The Foot Locker XC Championships were held Saturday in San Diego, California. Anna Rohrer, the 2012 winner, won the girls race and Grant Fisher won his second straight title.

The South won the girls team title with 41 points over the Midwest with 44 points.

The West won the boys title with 31 points. The Midwest placed second with 37 points.

Watch the Foot Locker Girls Championship Race
Watch the Foot Locker Boys Championship Race

Runnerspace.com

Abraham Lincoln and horse statue at New Salem - Petersburg, IL

Books read in 2014

Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead do Tell Tales, William Bass & Jon Jefferson
The Big Roads, Earl Swift
Never Suck A Dead Man's Hand: Curious Adventures of a CSI, Dana Kollmann 
Confessions of a Surgeon, Paul A. Ruggieri M.D.
Lincoln's Grace Robbers, Steve Sheinkin
Why Your Prescription Takes So Damn Long to Fill, Drugmonkey
Beyond the Body Farm, Dr. Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson
The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl Obsession, Mark Obmascik
True Hollywood Noir: Filmland Mysteries and Murders, Dina Di Mambro
Island of Vice: Theodor Roosevelt's Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York, Richard Zacks   
Mortal Evidence: The Forensics Behind Nine Shocking Cases, Cyril H. Wecht
Amelia, Nancy Nahra
Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures, Robert K. Wittman & John Shiffman 
The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
Hot Lights, Cold Steel, Michale J. Collins, M.D.
Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs, Michael J. Collins M.D. 
Dark Dreams: A Legendary FBI Profiler Examines Homicide and the Criminal Mind, Roy Hazelwood & Stephen G. Michaud 
Swim, Bike, Run: Our Triathlon Story, Alistair Brownlee & Jonathan Brownlee
The Stranger Beside Me, Ann Rule
Beauty, Disrupted: The Carre Otis Story, Carre Otis & Hugo Schwyzer
House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder and Survival, Deborah Ball
Trama: My Life as an Emergency Surgeon, Dr. James Cole
Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies, J.B. West
Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain
Back of the House: The Secret Life of a Restaurant, Scott Haas 
Shooting Stars: My Unexpected Life Photographing Hollywood's Most Famous, Jennifer Buhl
Trauma Junkie: Memoirs of an Emergency Flight Nurse, Janice Hudson
You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again: The True Adventures of a Hollywood Nanny, Suzanne Hansen
NYPD Confidential: Power and Corruption in the Country's Greatest Police Force, Leonard Levitt 
The Things That Matter, Nate Berkus
Chicago Cop: Tales from the Street, Star #14931
The Making of a Chef: Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute of America, Michael Ruhlman
Monica's Story, Andrew Morton
All Too Human: A Political Education, George Stephanopoulos
Flowers in the Attic, V.C. Andrews
Petals on the Wind, V.C. Andrews
If There Be Thorns, V.C., Andrews 
How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder, Mike Gilbert  
Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan, Del Quentin Wilber
Standing Next to History: An Agent's Life Inside The Secret Service, Joseph Petro & Jeffrey Robinson  
Intensive Care, Echo Heron
Condition Critical: The Story of a Nurse Continues, Echo Heron
Cabin Fever: The Sizzling Secrets of an Virgin Air Hostess..., Mandy Smith
Dancing with the Devil: The Windsors and Jimmy Donahue, Christopher Wilson
The Season: A Summer Whirl Through the English Social Season, Sophie Campbell
Joe and Marilyn: Legends in Love, C. David Heymann
Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies and the Making of a Medical Examiner, Judy Melinek, M.D.
Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents, Cormac O'Brien
Secret Lives of the First Ladies, Cormac O'Brien
The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Han van Meegeren
Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II's Most Audacious General, Bill O'Reilly & Martin Dugard
Gone Girl, GIllian Flynn
The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art, Don Thompson
Julius Caesar, Philip Freeman
The Painted Word, Tom Wolfe
What Are You Looking At?: The Surprising, Shocking and Sometimes Strange Story of 150 of Modern Art, Will Gompertz
41: A Portrait of My Father, George W. Bush
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory, Caitlin Doughty
The Inner Circle, Brad Meltzer
 
Currently Reading: Geroge Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring that saved the American Revolution, Brian Kilmeade & Don Yaeger

Peacock

Part of a peacock that I drew over the weekend. Media used 2H pencil.

Cartoon fox

This is a cartoon fox that I drew over the weekend. Media is oil pastel.

Books read in 2014

Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead do Tell Tales, William Bass & Jon Jefferson
The Big Roads, Earl Swift
Never Suck A Dead Man's Hand: Curious Adventures of a CSI, Dana Kollmann 
Confessions of a Surgeon, Paul A. Ruggieri M.D.
Lincoln's Grace Robbers, Steve Sheinkin
Why Your Prescription Takes So Damn Long to Fill, Drugmonkey
Beyond the Body Farm, Dr. Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson
The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl Obsession, Mark Obmascik
True Hollywood Noir: Filmland Mysteries and Murders, Dina Di Mambro
Island of Vice: Theodor Roosevelt's Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York, Richard Zacks   
Mortal Evidence: The Forensics Behind Nine Shocking Cases, Cyril H. Wecht
Amelia, Nancy Nahra
Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures, Robert K. Wittman & John Shiffman 
The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
Hot Lights, Cold Steel, Michale J. Collins, M.D.
Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs, Michael J. Collins M.D. 
Dark Dreams: A Legendary FBI Profiler Examines Homicide and the Criminal Mind, Roy Hazelwood & Stephen G. Michaud 
Swim, Bike, Run: Our Triathlon Story, Alistair Brownlee & Jonathan Brownlee
The Stranger Beside Me, Ann Rule
Beauty, Disrupted: The Carre Otis Story, Carre Otis & Hugo Schwyzer
House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder and Survival, Deborah Ball
Trama: My Life as an Emergency Surgeon, Dr. James Cole
Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies, J.B. West
Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain
Back of the House: The Secret Life of a Restaurant, Scott Haas 
Shooting Stars: My Unexpected Life Photographing Hollywood's Most Famous, Jennifer Buhl
Trauma Junkie: Memoirs of an Emergency Flight Nurse, Janice Hudson
You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again: The True Adventures of a Hollywood Nanny, Suzanne Hansen
NYPD Confidential: Power and Corruption in the Country's Greatest Police Force, Leonard Levitt 
The Things That Matter, Nate Berkus
Chicago Cop: Tales from the Street, Star #14931
The Making of a Chef: Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute of America, Michael Ruhlman
Monica's Story, Andrew Morton
All Too Human: A Political Education, George Stephanopoulos
Flowers in the Attic, V.C. Andrews
Petals on the Wind, V.C. Andrews
If There Be Thorns, V.C., Andrews 
How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder, Mike Gilbert  
Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan, Del Quentin Wilber
Standing Next to History: An Agent's Life Inside The Secret Service, Joseph Petro & Jeffrey Robinson  
Intensive Care, Echo Heron
Condition Critical: The Story of a Nurse Continues, Echo Heron
Cabin Fever: The Sizzling Secrets of an Virgin Air Hostess..., Mandy Smith
Dancing with the Devil: The Windsors and Jimmy Donahue, Christopher Wilson
The Season: A Summer Whirl Through the English Social Season, Sophie Campbell
Joe and Marilyn: Legends in Love, C. David Heymann
Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies and the Making of a Medical Examiner, Judy Melinek, M.D.
Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents, Cormac O'Brien
Secret Lives of the First Ladies, Cormac O'Brien
The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Han van Meegeren
Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II's Most Audacious General, Bill O'Reilly & Martin Dugard
Gone Girl, GIllian Flynn
The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art, Don Thompson
Julius Caesar, Philip Freeman
The Painted Word, Tom Wolfe
What Are You Looking At?: The Surprising, Shocking and Sometimes Strange Story of 150 of Modern Art, Will Gompertz
41: A Portrait of My Father, George W. Bush
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory, Caitlin Doughty
 
Currently Reading:  The Inner Circle, Brad Meltzer

Heroes

13abc.com/Channel 13 - Toledo, Ohio

I don't talk about my husband much on blog. But last Wednesday, my husband and his co-worker pulled a man out of a burning house. I'm very proud of both of them.

Watch stories from Channel 13 and two from Channel 11 story 1 and 2 - Toledo, Ohio.


Read stories from MLive and The Daily Telegram.

Thanksgiving

Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Books read in 2014

Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead do Tell Tales, William Bass & Jon Jefferson
The Big Roads, Earl Swift
Never Suck A Dead Man's Hand: Curious Adventures of a CSI, Dana Kollmann 
Confessions of a Surgeon, Paul A. Ruggieri M.D.
Lincoln's Grace Robbers, Steve Sheinkin
Why Your Prescription Takes So Damn Long to Fill, Drugmonkey
Beyond the Body Farm, Dr. Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson
The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl Obsession, Mark Obmascik
True Hollywood Noir: Filmland Mysteries and Murders, Dina Di Mambro
Island of Vice: Theodor Roosevelt's Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York, Richard Zacks   
Mortal Evidence: The Forensics Behind Nine Shocking Cases, Cyril H. Wecht
Amelia, Nancy Nahra
Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures, Robert K. Wittman & John Shiffman 
The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
Hot Lights, Cold Steel, Michale J. Collins, M.D.
Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs, Michael J. Collins M.D. 
Dark Dreams: A Legendary FBI Profiler Examines Homicide and the Criminal Mind, Roy Hazelwood & Stephen G. Michaud 
Swim, Bike, Run: Our Triathlon Story, Alistair Brownlee & Jonathan Brownlee
The Stranger Beside Me, Ann Rule
Beauty, Disrupted: The Carre Otis Story, Carre Otis & Hugo Schwyzer
House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder and Survival, Deborah Ball
Trama: My Life as an Emergency Surgeon, Dr. James Cole
Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies, J.B. West
Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain
Back of the House: The Secret Life of a Restaurant, Scott Haas 
Shooting Stars: My Unexpected Life Photographing Hollywood's Most Famous, Jennifer Buhl
Trauma Junkie: Memoirs of an Emergency Flight Nurse, Janice Hudson
You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again: The True Adventures of a Hollywood Nanny, Suzanne Hansen
NYPD Confidential: Power and Corruption in the Country's Greatest Police Force, Leonard Levitt 
The Things That Matter, Nate Berkus
Chicago Cop: Tales from the Street, Star #14931
The Making of a Chef: Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute of America, Michael Ruhlman
Monica's Story, Andrew Morton
All Too Human: A Political Education, George Stephanopoulos
Flowers in the Attic, V.C. Andrews
Petals on the Wind, V.C. Andrews
If There Be Thorns, V.C., Andrews 
How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder, Mike Gilbert  
Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan, Del Quentin Wilber
Standing Next to History: An Agent's Life Inside The Secret Service, Joseph Petro & Jeffrey Robinson  
Intensive Care, Echo Heron
Condition Critical: The Story of a Nurse Continues, Echo Heron
Cabin Fever: The Sizzling Secrets of an Virgin Air Hostess..., Mandy Smith
Dancing with the Devil: The Windsors and Jimmy Donahue, Christopher Wilson
The Season: A Summer Whirl Through the English Social Season, Sophie Campbell
Joe and Marilyn: Legends in Love, C. David Heymann
Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies and the Making of a Medical Examiner, Judy Melinek, M.D.
Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents, Cormac O'Brien
Secret Lives of the First Ladies, Cormac O'Brien
The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Han van Meegeren
Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II's Most Audacious General, Bill O'Reilly & Martin Dugard
Gone Girl, GIllian Flynn
The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art, Don Thompson
Julius Caesar, Philip Freeman
The Painted Word, Tom Wolfe
What Are You Looking At?: The Surprising, Shocking and Sometimes Strange Story of 150 of Modern Art, Will Gompertz
41: A Portrait of My Father, George W. Bush
 
Currently Reading:  Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory, Caitlin Doughty