Merry Christmas!

Yes, yes, I know, it is well past Christmas, and indeed New Year's for that matter, but hey, it was a busy week….ish or two. But anyway, Merry Christmas everyone!! I hope the holidays went smoothly for everyone and that you (we) managed to get past the crass commercialism that has consumed Christmas to the comfort. I had a great Christmas and the Watchnight service at church was hysterical. One of the reasons that this is not a more timely post is that for the week of Christmas, I had no Internet connection (!!!!!!!), a situation which was thankfully remedied once my neighbors/landlords returned home and... did… something. My next Event was waking up one morning without heat, New Year's Eve actually, but it all turned out okay since the heat got fixed and I spent the day sitting and reading, sucking down an entire Dorothy Sayers novel. This seems to be a theme in this new year – sitting around and reading – and a habit that I somehow fell out of over the last ten years or so. Well, Nan-chan and I did have several episodes last year (James Herriott, Terry Pratchett, Agatha Christie, Mary Stewart) but apparently I just forgot about all of them.

So, my most-used new toy has been my new 30GB Zune (Microsoft's version of the iPod) that my darling brother and parents got for me. I have to say, this technology stuff rocks!! I can totally see myself getting all gadgeted up. One of my favorite things about having my Zune is that I can subscribe to a variety of podcasts and then listen to them at work (score!!). It's especially enjoyable to start catching up on the Hispanic/Latin American issues that I've been missing in the last several years… minus immigration, which I really hate hearing about anymore, no matter which side people are on. Anyway, Moo came down for Christmas and we all spent the day sitting around watching Firefly (I love love love love love my family!!) and eating. On Christmas Eve, Dad and I did a little baking and took some cookies and stuff to some friends and it was an absolutely gorgeous night, clear and frosty and cold!!!

I should admit that another reason I have been virtually cyber-absent (get it? Virtually cyber-absent? Ha! I kill me.) is that the weather has been fabulously stormy in such a way as to inspire one to not turn on one's computer for days and instead sit on the couch looking out the window or reading several books while drinking warm beverages. And hoping it snows enough that one can't go to work, which did happen yesterday… for at least an hour or so. It's been great, the passes have been periodically closing, the hills are covered in snow, and there's really nothing quite like having the wind whip the snow against the windows in sudden gusts. At least my apartment didn't get blown sideways during that one windstorm! Okay, I seem to have lost my internet connection again, so I'm going to go figure out what's wrong so you can read this. Nice to see you all again!