Merry New Year!

It’s been a while since my last post, so while I’m sitting here at my desk in a virtually empty office waiting until I’m certain no one will call or email me requesting something, I’ll catch up here.

Had a great Christmas. My sister, her husband, and my nephew stayed at our place for the duration of their visit and I’d say it worked out perfectly. Katie had a bunk mate for the week and when the first bedtime came without her cousin she was heartbroken and crying herself to sleep. Her cousin got a Wii gaming system which provided a great deal of entertainment for all of us. It’s hard to describe how satisfying it is to watch two 5 year old kids have so much fun together. Katie’s older cousin joined in the fun as well and gets better each day as the role model for the younger two. I hope Katie’s relationship with all her cousins stays as strong as it is now. This Christmas was the fist in 20 years that the whole family was together. It was great.

I gave my lovely wife a wine refrigerator for Christmas which I think went over very well. She totally surprised me with a table saw. I spent Saturday putting the table saw through her maiden project which was installing the wine fridge into the kitchen cabinets. I was very pleased with the results and the saw is now ready to take on bigger tasks. First on the list will be to finish out the second room in the studio so I can host my first session next month.

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto was a stark reminder that freedom’s enemies are as resolved as ever to foul the world with their stink. My one hope is that in her death those in her country and ours come to the conclusion that many of us have been sadly frustrated with for so long now: There is no sharing the planet with the people who carried out this act. There is no diplomatic solution that will satisfy Al Qaeda and other radical Islamic militancy. There is only eradication. We need to unite around this reality now.

I was passed along a copy of a book my brother read and had given to my dad to read. The two of them have been talking about this book for a month now. It's no wonder, “Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage” is quite the page turner. I’m two thirds of the way through it and will NEVER complain about being cold again. I will never understand why people read so much non-fiction when there are so many true stories that can blow ones mind equally as well.

Tonight it’ll be a small group of us bringing in the New Year. Our good friends and my folks will make their way over to our place to slam some domino's, watch football, drink yet even more of my booze as we wait for the ball to drop.

I’m filled with a sense satisfaction as 2007, my year of big change, clicks over. While not a cent richer or grounded in any more stability than 2006, I still feel like we’ve overcome a great deal this past year. Changes that are not easy to make we’ve conquered nonetheless. Not in anyway compared to the physical challenges Sir Ernest Shackleton and his men had to endure, but challenges just the same.

Have a happy new year everybody and thanks for tuning in…