Happy New Year!

Allow me to now wish one and all a belated Happy New Year. This is meant to balance out the early Happy New Year that was hinted at prior to the actual holiday. In my mind, this somehow balances out to a traditional and on-time greeting. Enjoy!

Monkey and I spent a low-key evening with the puppy dog, enjoying a tasty steak dinner, watching Anderson Cooper and Kathy Grifiin / Ryan Seacrest, bravely staying awake long enough to see the Central Standard New Year enter, and then heading off to bed. Reasons for this include a lack of any planning for the evening, a general lack of enthusiasm for the holiday, and a genuine East Coast head cold that we each received as a post-Christmas gift that we brought back with us.

The trip home was mostly good. It was great to see my wild men nephews (now five and three (and a half)), my bro and sister-in-law (a fun trip to Vaccaro's and Hampden after dinner at Tio Pepe's (sorry I was a jerk for those forty-five minutes or so...)), mom and dad. It was awesome to be treated to tenth row seats at the Ravens-Jaguars game Sunday night by Monkey's bro and sister-in-law! Good to see my in-laws and other family! And, in a drive-by, a great lunch with La Fashionista and P.

Beyond those highlights, I enjoyed putting together and playing Hungry Hungry Hippos with the kiddos, setting up for and taking the annual family photo by the tree, scrapple for breakfast, and Mom's cookies and pie. By the way, monthly beard check = getting kind of freaky long.

New! New! New!

Something is different about this here Central Standard. Blogger has changed some things. You may notice that the typeface seems different. The inner workings of the thing are supposed to be new and improved, too, but I am still poking around. I'll let you know.

Monkey and I returned from Xmas Fest 06 in one piece. It was a long drive back, but we made good time. The visit was good, but everyone seems to think we are moving to Alaska, instead of Nebraska. Jackets and scarves and ear muffs to keep us warm. We'll appreciate them in the face of an old-fashioned Plains windstorm, but I think the change in temperature two hundred miles to the north is not as drastic as some might believe.

The nephews are growing and are as entertaining as ever. The young cousins (remember the ones climbing the walls last Christmas Eve?) still number only four and are as different as four people should be.

Everybody else, for better and worse, is pretty much the same. Thanks Mom and Dad for putting us up (and feeding us scrapple)! Thanks North County Sister-in-law for filling your house with Mad Dogs and Irishmen. Thanks Junior and JD for the crab dip and shrimp (and ruffage). Thanks everyone for being our family.

I just finished my online app for Lincoln Public Schools. Let the job hunting begin. I guess it's on, now.

I hope that I can keep in better touch with this here blog in the new year. I sure fell off at the end of this one...so much to do...so much to do. My resolution for next year: have more fun and use the phone more often.

On a side note: how did MU lose that Sun Bowl? Oh, the misery!

At Rest

That's it, folks. I just washed the Penguin. No more traveling. Until September. But, for the summer, I am happily homebound, after being homeward bound just yesterday. The new car, purchased in February, has 9000 miles on it. Almost 5000 of those since Memorial Day Weekend. Baltimore last week(1970 round trip), Lincoln before that (700 round trip), Maine (airport drives (250 round trip)), Conroe, TX (1600 round trip).

Spent some time with my family this past week. I was unable to post obviously, but I survived the trip and I am back. Highlights included fishing with my dad (once legally at Loch Raven, once illegally at Dundee Creek (I told him that was tidal water, but he didn't believe me--oops!), seeing imported Costa Rican butterflies with my nephews, breakfasting with my cousin and with Jersey Girl (separate breakfasts), and shopping for Utz potato chips, scrapple, and Berger cookies at Giant and Mars to satisfy Monkey and my craving for things from Back East (I told her, "I had to go all the way to Mars for these freaking cookies!").

I will skip the descriptions and just throw some pics at you. All in all, it's good to be back home (and staying put for awhile).

View from the I-68E Maryland Welcome Center (Youghiogheny (Yok-i-gay-nee) River)

The Author and a breakfast companion (note the fashionista T-shirt) The author and the coolest 86 year old in the world

The nephews with the mother and grandmother (pointing at a turtle)

The author with his favorite two and a half year old

The author's favorite 15-month old