Busy holidays...

The holidays are over for another year...time to start shopping for next year.  I made both some great and some awful cookies this year, tried a gingerbread house for the first time (the kids ate the roof) and got some great gifts and treats.  The winner of the best gift of this year was my dad's girlfriend, Debbie, who really put some thought into my gifts.  I received the book Great Disasters in History (Parragon, 2007), with compelling chapters on plagues & epidemics, famine & drought, and disasters at sea.  Ah, she knows me so well.  I am working my way through reading a chapter here and there to savor the whole.  I did some reading over the holidays, but not as much as I'd hoped (even though I didn't buy the kids any electronic toys that make noise).  It took me longer than I thought it would to finish Keith Richards' Life.  It was not as interesting (in the trashy rock star way) as I thought it would be, but it did showcase what a talented musician he is.  I even went so far as to set Start me up as my ringtone.  More engaging was December 8, 1980:  The day John Lennon died by Keith Elliot Greenberg.  I really didn't know much about the event previously and this timeline account of the final day of his life was moving.  There was a full page peace ad in the Sunday NYT last weekend signed from John & Yoko; just an interesting sidenote.

As I am settling into my new position (and amazing office!) I've become even busier than usual, however I am going to make a concerted effort to work blogging into my schedule.  There's my new year's resolution.