Thanks Anne!!!

Lazy day today.  I slept in, mostly because I stayed up way too late last night reading Do Androids Dream...  I'm really enjoying it now that I'm further in and the story is beginning to parallel the film a little more clearly.  Plus it's set in SF and so it's fun and creepy to recognize/imagine the places they're talking about in the future.  I probably shouldn't read any more tonight because it's already late, but I'm tempted.

So once I got up, I ran some errands, did some more work on my paper revisions and waited for Janice to call.  We need to remake the video for school and I emailed her asking her to let me know when I should come in.  Apparently she doesn't read her email when she's busy though, so I didn't get the call until late in the day and so consequently I'm going in tomorrow instead.  Oh well.  I did some putzy things around the house and I guess sometimes that's good too. 

First I put up the Christmas tree window gel that was in the box from my parents. 
(It's harder than it looks with all those little dots.) 

And I put a new battery in my electric toothbrush.  I really like this toothbrush, and it was a gift, so I didn't pay that much attention to the features when I opened it.  However, when I looked at the packaging to see how to replace the battery, it said it was a one time use thing.  So I opened it up to check and sure enough - I found that they had indeed made it impossible to remove the battery without totally messing up the workings.  That is, impossible for most people.  But using a Leatherman and a bit of Kleenex, I got it running again.  At least for a while.  MacGardner strikes again!

 The best part of the day, though, was opening yet another package from my friend Anne.  She send me some random goodies because she knows how nice it is to get real mail in a far away land.  As you can see, she has great taste.  The retro calendar and lovely card of the California Coast are perfect, I've never read any Fitzgerald and she loves short stories so I'm trying to learn to love them too.  The soap smells incredible and I'm sure the Pictionary cards will make for a fun evening sometime very soon.  Plus, cheese mac, brownies and banana chips.  What could be better?

I lucked out for dinner too, because Carol and Angie decided to make hotpot and it was very yummy.  (Although I must admit, the bar is now quite high thanks to Uncle Tony.)

Here you can see the corn, daikon, meat and fish balls, shrimp, and carrots.  

Carol showed me this great technique for eating the corn.  I thought my family would get a kick out of this since growing up I was notorious for breaking the little holders whenever we had corn on the cob.  My new foolproof method - a chopstick!  Problem solved!  (These things are good for everything!)

After dinner we watched Sherlock Holmes, the new version.  I totally love it even though it's not entirely true to the glorious stories I read in my youth.  I'm getting ready for the new release which I'm going to make the voyage to HK for on Thursday, if all goes well.

As many of you know, I also love Jon Carroll, my favorite columnist from the SF Chronicle.  I'm sure my blog writing style probably owes some of its flavor to him and I thought today I'd try out one of his regular devices.  No, sorry, it's not a cat column.  I'm going to share some of the things my readers have forwarded to me in the last few months.

First this from my sister, Becky.


Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

Isn't it great?  I love the Northern Lights, but haven't gotten to see them in ages, and the lightning is awesome too.  Thanks Becky!


Then this from my sister, Rachel, who got it from my aunt, Jackie.

Pretty sweet, huh?  Makes me want to run for my umbrella.  Thanks Rach!


And finally, these two vids came from my Dad.  I can almost feel the cold stillness of the lake while watching them.  The sounds he's referring to are when the lake creaks and groans as the ice expands and contracts.  It's really neat, but can be a little nerve-wracking for people who aren't used to it.  Since the lake didn't cooperate with the filming, I've also included an extra YouTube vid at the end from an ice fisherman in WI who accidentally got some good sounds while trying to tape himself catching fish.  Cool stuff, thanks Dad!