Hippo, birdie, two ewes...

... to cphoenix!!!! (And let's not forget Isaac Newton!) Have a great one!!

And don't forget to take a look at today's xkcd!!

Tis the season

Between now and next weekend the Starport is pretty much open every day: we take in strays for the holidays. Today's menu is borscht, honey-glazed ham, and the smoked duck my brother sent us. The annual "sometime around New Year" potluck is January 2^nd, a week from tomorrow. (The only exception is that we'll probably be off on a family outing this Sunday.)

The chaoswolf and selkit will be hosting on New Year's Eve.

If you feel like stopping by any time in between, you'll be welcome if anybody's home; it's usually a good idea to call ahead except for today, Wednesday, and next Saturday.

Done yesterday (20091224 Th)

( raw notes )

A pretty good day. (I started to type "year". Not so much.) A fair amount of progress at work, a bit of last-minute shopping including exercise-level walking, and definite signs that the new meds are working on the BPH.

My brother sent us a smoked duck. We probably have enough food in the house, and few enough people expected, not to need it today. We'll see.

On the down side, my doctor told me to lose at least 10 pounds: I'm pre-diabetic, and my triglycerides are high. In my opinion, I need to lose at least 30, and preferably 50. GAAK! I was actually making progress in 2007; the fact that I'm taking drugs that can cause weight gain makes a convenient excuse, but probably isn't the reason I gained 20 pounds in 2008.

A good insight: I like holidays, but tend to be less than enthusiastic; that may be because I also end up doing a lot of the work, and because although I like having interesting people to talk to, a house full of guests is guaranteed to put me well into overload. More later, probably.

Links under the cut, as usual.

An unusual Christmas wish

Father's Prayer (Christmas 2009), from this post by haikujaguar.

... But I have had cause lately to see that men love their children quite as much as women, in a way mysterious to women. And so I got to thinking about Joseph, who is surely one of the most famous adoptive fathers. I'm sure he too looked up at the sky and said, "God, I hope I do this right."

To which all I can say is "amen to that".

River: Holidays and the Bear

I've been rather ambivalent about the holiday season for the last several years -- heck, the last several decades, probably. This morning, I finally noticed, and immediately realized why.

I like having friends around, but I really can't handle more than one person at a time in a conversation, and I'm easily overloaded and "peopled out". I love seeing the kids enjoying their presents, but I'm lousy at selecting them. I like festive meals, but I end up doing all of the clean-up, and these days a lot of the prep and even a lot of the cooking. The cooking is fun, but it's tiring. So... yeah.

Here at the Starport we're happy to have our friends feeling free to drop in. I'm happy to have friends dropping in. But there's a good reason why I'm typing this post in the office. The door's open, though. And I spent most of the afternoon between the living room and the kitchen.

I'm actually having a happy Christmas; one of the best in years. Now that I know what the problem is, I can work with it.

A happy holiday season to you all, whatever you celebrate.