Merry Belated Christmas Y'all!

We've been down in Van/Port visiting family and friends since Saturday. Lovely Eve and Xmas dinners with mom's side of the family. Santa was good to me this year and more importantly, he made a surprise visit to Mom's Christmas Eve gathering. He brought presents specifically for Mom's friends' 6-year-old daughter who eyed Santa (my uncle Randy incognito) very suspiciously. But I think the art set and ornament softened her a bit. It's surprising how fun that is to propagate the myth of Santa. I've ruminated on if that is a cruel thing to do to a child but it sure is magical right up to the point when you figure it out or are told by some asshole kid on the playground.

I will remain here until Saturday but Ken needed to get back to Seattle to return to work. So I dropped him off at the Vancouver Amtrak Depot at 6pm this evening. I just got off the phone with him around 11pm to find out that he was still in-fact in Vancouver. Due to mechanical issues and other problems, they did not have a viable train until just moments ago. So instead of getting into Seattle at around 9:45pm as predicted, he'll get in sometime closer to 3am. I believe Mr. Ken will be writing a letter...

Sorry no pics, I neglected to pack a USB cable.
Thanks to Mother for letting me use her computer for this entry.

Coug BB Romp

Last night we enjoyed a non-conference ("exhibition") game showcasing the green and flat-footed Citadel team against our favorite, undefeated, #6-in-the-nation Cougs. Annihilation ensued. It was a GREAT night full of laughter and stories with old friends. I learned where Brett "Jo-Jo" Jungbluth got his nickname (from a pencil eraser) and that Hampel thus dubbed himself "Hasselhoffigon" over 10 years ago in a mythology class. (Even now, I am still learning something about these crazy guys.) And Jenny was the first person to introduce me to Phad Thai and here we were eating it together 13 years later. Ah the memories. Sam's brother, sister-in-law & baby nephew, Kavi, were able to join us from Balimore and Kavi seemed to enjoy himself after he got settled. A fabulous night all around. I think this will become one of our yearly traditions.

Dave was here.

So this is Dave. He's an old friend of Ken's who paid us a visit for the last week here in cold, rainy Seattle. It was extra cold and extra rainy. Or so Dave thought. Over the course of the week, we had occasion to eat at Cedar's the best Indian restaurant in Seattle, sing karaoke in the basement, become "Pho Buddies," witness a pants-less Santa strolling down Market Street, eat at La Isla the best Puerto Rican restaurant in Seattle, derive "more hit-o" from mojito and rock out on X-Box's Rock Band at Ken's co-worker's house. And Ken and I managed to work too.

Oliver and Dave co-habitated our basement that whole time and grew quite fond of each other. So much so that Oliver has been despondently wandering the house as if to say, "Oh great, I have to deal with you people again? Bring back the funny guy."

Le sigh.

Bird Convention

Ken captured this bizarre phenomenon today: all the birds in the Seattle Metro area congregated on our front lawn. Why? Because it's Sunday and even birds need a day of rest.