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So, yeah. New Year. Potentially overrated festivities... or maybe I'm just getting old. EL and I had a wonderfully quiet New Year in pseudo-recovery from our post-Christmas sickness. This first week of bling phatty 2004 has been uneventful as well. Nice. Work has been teetering between smooth ride and repetitive grind as most of the squeaky wheels were out for vacation. My hopeless boss has been more tolerable as I feel the will seeping from me with each passing day here. You will be assimilated. I have been inactive in photography outside of pressing the delete key on countless photos in my piss poor excuse of a portfolio folder on the 'ole hard drive. EL and I drove the mile or so it is to the nearest coffeehouse for New Year's brew and noticed about 5 times the normal number of cars in the local gym parking lot... filled to capacity. People are sheep. We couldn't get a table at our favorite Italian place on New Year's Eve but that was alright because we weren't out for a "special dinner" like the masses... just to feed. The manager was a odd blend of smug and apologetic at the same time. I'm sure it was a tough act to follow when we went back this weekend and had the entire restaurant to ourselves. It was excellent. I wish I could reserve the place as such at will. The Houston METRO light rail had another wreck... or was it two? I lose count. People will die by that train. Mark my words... this year, it'll happen. As I was just considering blogging about my friend Rob's birthday today (Happy Birthday Rob!), I realized I've forgotten how old I am. Where is my calculator? Ah yes. I remember now. Our cats are unhappy because we've changed their eating situation to twice a day verses the continuous feeder thingy. They aren't hungry... just not in control. Cats like to be in control. The dog also got a feeding regimen change... however, dogs don't care as long as you love 'em. I requested a new laptop at work. The case is broken and the CPU fan is missing teeth so it makes a terrible card-on-spoke kinda sound when it rev's up. The mouse button pad is held in by packing tape and the keys sometimes don't work. My motherboard won't support a memory upgrade sufficient to ease my speed problems. It's an old processor that hates me. My battery life is down to 15 minutes on a fully charged new battery. That is just wrong. I may as well cart a desktop PC in a wheelbarrow with a long ass extension cord. It was hot here in the New Year. I've run my air conditioner 4 days of the 5 since the calendar flipped. It was 80 degreed this week. It's a quick trip from pimp layered winter clothing to summer swim trunks, eh? It's cooler today. Today. I grasped a free calendar from the big box of free calendars in my office. I mean... it was free. It turns out that it's an almanac calendar. Have you ever tried to read one? You need training to find the numbers that represent the dates. I can tell you when the moon rises in each phase and where to plant your corn, but don't ask me what fuckin' day it is. Really though... I sincerely hope this first week of the new year has been a good one. Two and a half hours from making it through the first Monday of 2004... so close... it's almost done! pee ess... I keep coming back to these eagle photos. I really dig 'em. If you have a moment, please take time to view/comment/rate this one. It's a wee bit different. Thanks.