Awwww! Quite young teen Emma.

How rude, Theo.

Glamour shot, Emma.

Congrats, Perkins, on being halfway through!

I have such fond memories of Xmas from when I was a kid, (though M is Jewish, and D and I are religion-free) we have the holiday and we are having a New Year's Party, and damn, I want to make some family traditions all of a sudden.

A pagan festival of evergreenery and light is just dandy! I think it's all part of how we get through the winter.

~ma to Khusband

((((Theodosia))))

Happy birthday, DJ!

Trelawney Emma.

Hey, maybe not glamourista, but I love her Trelawney.

I haven't done in-person Black Friday shopping ever. Last night I went to bed early and woke up spontaneously around 4:30am. So I hit the Apple Store to see if Logic was on sale. It wasn't. Which was pretty much what I expected. Apple usually puts the hardware on sale but not the software. Which is weird because their profit margin is huger on software, making it easier to cut into and still make a profit.

I spent time looking at various sites for a compact sleeping bag, a boom mic stand, a metal screen pop stopper, and Logic. Only bought the latter of those (which was plenty of hit to my wallet anyway). Amazon had it for about 21% off retail.

I was going to try to hang with GarageBand as long as I could, figuring I wouldn't spent more $ until I really knew GarageBand all the way through. But when I was working on this last project, I found I couldn't export the MIDI from GB, which made it so that I couldn't collaborate with anyone who didn't *also* have GB. And given my RSI, I'm really going to need to collaborate remotely with other musicians. Logic also comes with loads of loops, which is also helpful to me given my RSI. So I'm looking forward to when that arrives.

I have finally completed that UI design I've had on my plate for too long, and I got a decent sketch done. I'm going to call today a win and call it quits at the office, although I may drive past Fry's on my way home.

-ma to Khusband!

I cleaned up the kitchen and dining room completely this morning, which leaves me feeling nice and accomplished and timely.

I have also cleared up my contacts in my email, done some niggly PITA financial contacts stuff, and loaded my pix from yesterday. Good deal.

I had a great Thanksgiving: [link]

I love your essay, Erin, and the sentiments you express. From the photo of your dining room, everything looks lovely--the furniture fits as though made for the room. I like the wall color, too. But there's one thing I love and covet--that's your dining room windows! The white-painted wood, the mullioned six-over-one panes, the lacy valances. But the thing I covet most is the deep sills. Wide enough to set an oil lamp in the window on a dark night, wide enough for a collection of glass to capture and scatter the light, wide enough for a collection of favorite books. Wide sills have always been a dream of mine, and since it's unlikely I'll have them in this lifetime (not moving again if I can help it!) it pleases me to see them where others enjoy them.

Foul! I wonder who the opposing player was, and how he feels about it right now. That's one hell of an elbow.

I am now killing time in a Starbucks in downtown Appleton, waiting for my bus to leave at 5:10. It's rather cold here and I'm a little underdressed for it. Thanksgiving was great (we went to a nice buffet at a restaurant in Clintonville). My brother ended up not brigning any of his kids (he's twice divorced) and my sis and her gf and kids couldn't make it due to illness. This morning we went out to breakfast, where about a third of the patrons were dressed in blaze orange for deer hunting. On the way into Appleton on Wed, the bus passed a truck with a deer strapped to the roof, and everybody in the bus looked at it as if they'd never seen such a thing before.

My brother has to be at work in Appleton at 3:00, so I got a ride with him so I could catch my bus. Will make it home about 10:30 tonight.