one's misfortune is another's good fortune

The weekend started as one of those sequences where gravity and other laws of physics just do not cooperate with how one wants to run one's life. I smacked down about a third of a box of Cheerios onto the floor - much to the dog's liking. She got her share of oats that morning.
Things got better - we had friends of Linda's from college, who still get together with us regularly 35 years hence - for our own Christmas celebration. It was a good time.

We played this game called Quelf. The game is pretty insane. If you get roped into playing, be forewarned that you will get asked to carry on like a mad person. But it is great fun when everyone in the game is following their own oddball instructions. Just to give you one example, our daughter was instructed at one point to say the following anytime someone laughed (which was often): "I COMMAND YOU to be SILENT!!!"
The weekend we spend with these people is always a special time, and 2008 was no exception, even if we did tone down the gift giving in lieu of small checks written to local food banks, which need them more than ever these days.

Then I had to go to Columbus on Monday and Tuesday for a departmental meeting - and a very nice dinner at Brio - an excellent Italian restaurant. I got a little Christmas shopping done, since we were located in the heart of one of the City's largest retail mega complexes ("Polaris", for those who know their central Ohio).

Now it's back to the hum of the computer, the incessant gibberish of the parakeets, and the whining of the dog to take a walk in the 19 degree weather (it wasn't too bad, and she kept a pretty good pace going).

Oh, one more cool thing: The woodpeckers are showing up, as they do in the winter. Always good to see Mr. Red Bellied. Looking forward to the break coming up!