Merry Christmas!

For those of you who are Christian or just like celebrating this holiday, Merry Christmas!

Here's a lovely holiday video for you:



I'm in the midwest right now, having had a few days in New York and a few wonderful days in Virginia. I was only in Virginia for a few days, but I got to see lots of family there. Denise and I spent some time preparing a digital picture frame for my grandmother, there were multiple family meals, a trip to the Raven to meet a friend/colleague, and a great roast in honor of my cousin Chris's 30th birthday. I tried to fix my dad's stereo, sampled his egg nog (which used to be OUR egg nog, but nevermind), and wandered up and down my parents street looking at the Christmas lights.

On Monday, I flew from Norfolk out to Kansas City (this year is a year we spend Christmas with Sarah's family). On Tuesday, we drove to Iowa for some extended family celebrating. Tuesday night was Hodges night, with Sarah's dad's clan. Wednesday was Short day, with Sarah's mom's clan. Both events were great, with large extended families in intimate settings. At the Hodges event, the star of the show was baby Maddox, with whom I had a growling conversation for about 20 minutes (the boy is channeling Tom Waits). Also, at the Hodges event, we picked up Sarah's grandpa, who accompanied us to the Short event and then back to KC, where he'll spend Christmas with us. Both events were great, but after so much family in such a short period of time, I'm glad for a little bit of quiet with Sarah while the rest of the family is out at Christmas Eve services.

Tomorrow is Christmas Day! I hope yours is great!

Oh, and if you're the praying type, please include my friend Aga's mom in your prayers. She's doing pretty poorly now, and can use all of the good mojo she can get.

myspace

So, can anyone think of a reason to keep my MySpace account? It just gathers dust over there in cyberspace. I've got this blog and a FaceBook account...

in Virginia

After my New York adventure, I flew down to Virginia to see the fam. I arrived on Thursday afternoon, met Mom at the airport, and had a drink with her while we waited for Denise to arrive. By the time we got home, Dad was there, and we decorated the tree and had good cheer (we missed you, Sarah). That night, we went out for Mexican food at a nice where the margaritas were excessively overpriced.

On Friday, Denise and I worked on Mom-Mom's xmas gift and then visited Mom-Mom (we missed you, Sarah) in the home where she lives. We sat with her while she finished lunch, and then we watched a bit of the Bonnie Hunt show. She looked good. She's way to mentally aware to be in a home, but her body's falling apart, and she can't take care of herself. Alas.

Friday night, Denise and I went to meet a friend from Virginia Stage for a drink (we missed you, Sarah). Or three. Then, dinner at the Raven (we missed you, Sarah) and home for more old stories and accompanying coffee-dessert thing. Then, more wrestling with the digital picture frame.

This morning, I exercised and got some work done. I had hoped to have a morning to focus on the work I needed to do, but I kept getting interrupted with visitors. I saw our neighbor Terre (we missed you, Sarah) and other friends. I got some work done in the afternoon and wrapped some gifts before cousin Chris and his wife Elysia came over for a visit (we missed you, Sarah). We had a nice visit, took a walk to see the holiday lights, and then headed out for a dinner with the extended family.

After dinner, we went to my Aunt & Uncle's place, where they set up a mild roast ('celebration') of Chris, who recently turned 30. Everyone told stories about Chris - some funny, some sad, some silly. Then, cake and ice cream (we missed you, Sarah) and a small gift exchange. Mom-Mom opened her gift, a digital picture frame full of family photos. Chris and Elysia gave and received a lot of gifts, since they'll be in PA for Xmas itself. They enjoyed the CD and coasters we gave them. They loved the afgan Denise crocheted. I liked the book, whiskey, and funnel-cake set that they gave me.

All in all, it's been a great trip. But everyone misses Sarah!

NYC

I had a long blog, but the iPhone ate it. Ergo, here's a haiku:

Russian lunch with Sean.
Pina Bausch. Snowy Evening.
Three Manhattans. Mmmmm.

a long day and a second wind

This week has been full of long long days. After Denise left (she was visiting for Thanksgiving - wheee!), I entered my last week of classes. Which was also tech week for the remount of a show I designed last year. It was mostly a remount, but there were a few changes. So, 14-hour days at the U. Blech.

Last night, I left the U at 11pm and got home at 11.30. I immediately started packing for my trip to Mpls. S and I finally went to bed somewhere around 1.15. I got up at 5.15 to get ready to go to the airport. Have been up since then. Flew to Minneapolis, got lunch, unpacked, and went straight to rehearsal. By the time rehearsal was over, I had been awake 34 out of the previous 38 hours. We went to get a bite at a bar that happened to have a DJ. So, we danced. It's amazing the energy you find in your reserves to cover a superfluous activity like dancing.

Now, I'm back at the hotel. I had planned on going to bed early and working out in the morning, but since it's nearly 2am, I don't think the going to bed early part is going to work out. Since I have some sleep to make up for, I suppose I'll skip the work out tomorrow.

Eat your heart, Trey & Matt

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Proposition 8, the Musical

RIP, Odetta

You will be missed.

A triptych of political graffiti

First, there was this:


































Soon, this appeared above it:


































Then, there were some steps that I missed, but this is what is on the wall of the men's room near my office today:


































That's the "McCain Palin 1956" graffiti scribbled out at the bottom. At the top is "Barrack Obama for President of Kenya."

Guess I need to remind my students that freedom of speech means allowing other people to say things that you think are stupid.