Oh, hey look, it's 2005.

I've already accomplished so much this year.

1. I hung up Gina's shadowboxes on the wall.
2. I installed our vertical blinds.

I believe I deserve a break. A veritable vacation, if you will. I've already done more work than most people have done this year. And there's painting to do.

By the way...the Christmas Around the World display or whatever it's called at the Museum of Science & Industry is highly, highly disappointing. I expected it to be more a reflection of how Christians in different cultures and countries celebrate Christmas. But it was more of a "here's how Americans would decorate a tree for this country." For example, the Mexico tree had little jalapeno people hanging on the tree and dolls dressed in traditional garb (that part isn't so bad). Some of them were reflective of culture, not stereotype, but many were really dumb.

On the other hand, the Great Train Story -- the HO scale layout of Chicago, the Plains, the Rockies and Seattle was un-freakin'-real. I couldn't believe my eyes. Just unreal. That layout is the stuff dreams are made of as far as model railroading goes. I can only hope to produce something nearly as accurate and beautiful when I get a house/basement. :) Just unreal.

And I couldn't help but wonder...if the earthquake/tsunami sped up the Earth's rotation and shifted islands and whatnot, I wonder if the earthquake was detectable on the museum's giant pendulum at all? Would be interesting to note. :)