The New Year Commences!

Hello Everyone!

I know, it's been a reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally long time since I've updated this, but I appreciate your patience and understanding. My thanks to N.Vivian for keeping the blog going in the interregnum.

So, how was everyone's holiday(s)?

I had a wonderful Christmas and was able to celebrate it with almost the whole family. It was a little chaotic, and we had several "Christmases" to attend, but I think it was worth it. Let me give you an idea of what I mean. On December 14th, my girlfriend and I went to my mom's house for my birthday (I was born on Christmas eve, but we always did my birthday with immediate family sometime earlier). December 24th, we went to my cousin's house (formerly my aunt's house, before she and my uncle passed away) and had Christmas there with the extended family on my mom's side. We slept over at my mom's house so that we could open our stockings Christmas morning, and then we travelled to see my girlfriend's family for Christmas. On December 26th, we had my brother and his fiance and my dad and his fiance over for breakfast at our house. Since neither my brother or I had seen my dad for Christmas, we held Christmas after breakfast on the 26th. On the 27th, my girlfriend and I went to see my dad for my birthday, where he made a wonderful, hearty, English dinner.

For New Years, we got together with a few friends from college, whom we have not seen in quite some time. It was a very merry occasion and it was great to see all our friends again. It's awful how busy we all get; so much so, that we are often unable to see the people we treasure the most.

After New Years, we went out to Western Ma to see my girlfriend's extended family and have "Festivus" with them (note the Seinfeld reference: my girlfriend's aunts are both Jewish, so they decided to call the family gathering "Festivus").

As you can see, December was a rather busy month, especially around the holidays. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the time I got to spend with everyone, and I enjoyed giving out gifts to everybody.

Like many people, I have made a couple New Years resolutions. One of them is to keep up this blog at least as often as I have been (excluding, of course, that chaotic month of December, where I was grading papers, entering in grades for 35 students, applying to Ph.D. programs, and seeing family for the holidays) and to try out some new gadgets, widgets, and the like to spice things up. Bear with me during the experimental phase. It could get interesting...

So, what has everyone been reading? I have a rather long list of books, all of which will be reviewed, but here's the list:
-City of Jade by Dennis L McKiernan
-The Watchmen by Alan Moore
-The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
-Falls the Shadow by Sharon Kay Penman
-All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque