--THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS: 362 days. It's a long road, my friends...but I'm told that the year typically flies by. We shall see. :)

--Man, Laz is right...Blogger has been sucking lately, in terms of speed of use. It's getting to be a chore to post, almost, simply because, even on my quite-reliable DSL, it takes really long to load up...ah well. I'll keep trying. :)

--Is there anything better than eating chocolate-covered almonds? Sure, but eating them out of a clear plastic container that is a pretty accurate shape of California? I submit there is not.

--Austin is really cool. Even though I was saddled in the hotel during most of my free time fighting off a cold. That then rendered me temporarily partially deaf upon landing at O'Hare...my stupid ears wouldn't pop. By this morning though, it had cleared up.

--Norine's wedding also was really cool, again, even though I fought through it with the worst of the cold.

--We got home around 9pm yesterday, and I was so sore and tired and generally out of it from flying with the remnants of the cold that I went pretty much straight to bed. Got up at 7 this morning stunned that I felt much better and good enough to go to work. Good thing, because there was more than enough to do.