Music Appreciation

Today was a relatively good day.

First, HC brought in chocolates that AC made. They were truffles made with cayenne pepper, ginger and Grand Marinier. I ate two. I could have eaten many more and I usually only eat large quantities of dark chocolate covered orange peel. The truffles were my idea of a delicious and nutritious breakfast.

HC, CV, SM and I went to the Refectory for lunch, which was fun. I had black beans and rice, which is always good.

I went to my parents' for dinner and visited with FIFO. I swear he acts happier to see me every single time I go. Hopefully, the greeting ceremony won't get too much more dangerous. When I got back, I had a package from Amazon waiting for me. It was from my brother! That was very exciting, indeed. He got me four CDs from my wish list, Die Prinzen, Die Aertze, an Eagle's Greatest Hits and the Thompson Twins. The first two were ones that I listened to when I took German in college. I understood almost all of the lyrics back then. Now I can appreciate the actual music more.

Snow

It snowed about one to two inches here today, so I slept late and worked from home. Now that we have DSL, thanks again to my brother, it's actually possible to be productive and stay home. Not being able to work well from home is something that has tormented me ever since I started working in 2000. It's still somewhat difficult, in that it's harder to work if you've got a dog's head in between you and the laptop's screen. There are a lot of other distractions here, but many aren't too much worse than conversations that normally emanate from neighboring offices, friendly co-workers or meetings.

I haven't heard anything about the van. I'll probably have to call the Chevy dealer tomorrow.

I found out tonight that this blog has another regular reader. This one is actually outside my immediate family! She made an excellent recommendation and that was to refer to people by their first initial. I will probably start doing that in the next post that mentions people, but I will use my old convention one more time. Thanks, Owner of NMI!

Everything was beautiful after the snow with white powder collecting on the tops of all the branches. The pond was nice and glassy today, reflecting the winter's elegance. It's supposed to get really cold this weekend, though, so we will continue to board Shadow at the vet's. He's recovering from having a fibroid tumor removed, so we didn't think he should be outside, even in his heated bed on the porch, when it goes down to 9F tomorrow night. Actually, I've just been watching Nova episodes on Antarctica and that's starting to sound pretty warm.

Christmas Day

Today's Christmas day lived up to our family tradition as a somewhat anticlimactic day to enjoy our presents and company. Unlike most American families, the anticipation of how people will react to their gifts and of what one might receive is already gone. Needless to say, it is not necessary to wake up early! It's perfect for night owls, like me, who like to sleep late. The day does call for a splendid meal, so my mother made her fantastic fried chicken, biscuits, asparagus and mashed potatoes.

Other than that, I completely revamped my website. It still looks the same. It says almost the same stuff. ..but now most of the links should actually work and the text is a lot more accurate. There are a couple of new links here and there. What would a personal website really be without a link to one's favorite comic strip?

My brother, Karl, and I gave our parents cell phones for Christmas. My phone is starting to seem ancient, but I'm really not in the mood to spend a lot of money right now, because I've been saving up for things for my new house. Granted, a lot of the cool new phones are free, but that still involves making a decision. Would I want a Handspring Treo 600 or something nice and tiny? If I change carriers, I want one that will work everywhere, of course. I'll probably just keep my phone, for now...

Christmas Eve

In my last post, I neglected to mention that I would like to wish that everyone has a Merry Christmas!
My family is somewhat unusual in that we celebrate Christmas on the night of the 24th, a German tradition. Under normal conditions, we would decorate the tree on the day of the 24th and then light the tree's candles in the evening and unwrap presents while the Bach Christmas Oratorio is playing on a stereo, boom box or computer. Since we have a dog, FIFO, that considers everything that falls in the floor to be his, we have been putting our tree outside on the deck. This year, my dad actually put the lights on yesterday! On the 23rd! They weren't turned on, so I suppose that is acceptable. Since my brother is visiting for fewer than 2 days, he didn't want to decorate while he was here.