i wish there were more to say...

At first it was copious amounts of school work that kept me from updating the blog, then it was the holidays, now it is just laziness and disinterest. even on facebook, you may have noticed that while i have occasionally commented on your posts, i have had few interesting things to say of late.

working chronologically forward from my last post, as memory serves...there was a lot of schoolwork, then it was thanksgiving, which i spent a pleasant weekend before the holiday in hanford. Meg was on call the weekend of thanksgiving so i wanted to be home with her-and the dog. We had a nice time, it was supposed to rain but it held off until i got home, which was nice as i took my be-walkered mother (fresh off back surgery) and my grandmother to morro bay for the day. it couldn't have been more perfect weather, and the old gals did pretty good. though i couldn't talk either of them into a canoe ride across the bay. it was a great trip until i was pulled over for speeding in the middle of nowhere on a mostly empty highway, with my mom and grandma in the car (not cool CHP!) mom has photos of all of that on her blog (available on your left)

Then it was finals and school nonsense, interviews, exams, etc. I took it as a compliment when my professor said " you are going to rock those kids' world!" in regards to my future students.

After that my mother-in-law was in town for surgery (at meg's hospital, down the street) so i spent most of that week getting things done around the house, decorating, and visiting her. she did very well, and is fine. we had long talks about classroom management and how it varies from the australia of 40(?) (she may kill me) years ago and today's american methods.

Then it was christmastime! again, meg drew the short straw for the holiday, so i made a whirlwind tour of hanford on christmas eve and then spent christmas afternoon cleaning before meg's family showed up for christmas dinner. first family christmas in our new place, it went very well, much more space than the last time we tried hosting. The big gifts for me this year was a new LCD tv for the living room and an appletv with a netflix membership. I love it, the picture is amazing, and i have been averaging 2 movies a day and my muscles are starting to atrophy. I also got a new universal remote that blows my mind. I love, LOVE, programming remote controls. its such a small tangled little puzzle and when you get it just right it makes your life better. if you want me to come over and program your, just ask!

The dog is incredible (you literally cannot believe anything she tells you). I love her so much, and i can only dimly recall the horrific emptiness of the house between Dory and Wren. I spend a lot of time at home, the burden of being a trophy husband/student i suppose, but she is good company. having never had a puppy before i am fascinated by her development, and she is very clever and ornery, like me, so it gives me something to do. that and clean up after her, she's part tasmanian devil, i swear. we go on lots of walks, i recently gave her all her shots, so we have been taking her out to meet other dogs and get her socialized to them. we've been to the dog park and beach, and she had a great time.

i spent the last two days building a bird cage for our outside finch collection. taller and roomier than the store bought one we were using. plus nobody designs bird cages for ease of cleaning, changing bird papers is annoying, yet the solution is so simple. I thought i could do better, and i think that overall, as a trial run it went pretty smoothly. if i do it again, and i probably will (for different birds), i will use poplar and modify the design slightly, but it works. Also i got to use cordless circular saw, which i am still convinced will someday take my finger, but it was pretty cool to use.

please permit me to post a video, i don't generally like to, but this seems worth sharing. it was on a rainy day in the angel's stadium parking lot.