Marley has a cut on his foot. The salt on the roadways gets into the cut and he limps along. This injury, however, hasn't completely sidelined him. He found a gap in our backyard fence (since fixed) and has gone on some memorable adventures, including barking matches with other dogs on the street.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy introduced the concept of the total perspective vortex. It's a way that humans keep their world imaginable. To try to comprehend the whole of everything is to run the risk of having your brain disintegrate, a sort of mental singularity.

Humor aside, this world is often too much for us to comtemplate for any significant amount of time. On the other side of this earth, 100,000 people have died, millions more are injured, homeless, or mourning. It took a great tragedy to push the war in Iraq off the front pages. We watch the images and we grieve. We try to take it all in and imagine what it must be like. And then we come back to our home, our familiar little corner, to our dog's injured foot. Rare are the people who can think about very important things for very long.

Today is trash day in our part of town. Driving home last night I saw the trash barrels overflowing with the by-product of Christmas. (I don't recall any part of the Christmas story that had the three wise men riding off to the dump.) It's no doubt a very long week for the trash haulers.

When I was growing up, we didn't have community trash pickup. (My father still doesn't; the house too far from the center of town.) That which wasn't burned in a barrel in the back yard went to the dump. The dump was the center of activity on Saturday morning. Rocky, the guy who ran the town dump, got to keep what he wanted out of the trash. He wasn't wealthy, but his house was nicer than you'd expect. His daughter, though, wasn't treated well in school.

We had a Studebaker pickup truck when I was a kid. As you know, then, as now, if you have a truck, it's not yours alone. People want your help moving all kinds of stuff. Some friends of my parents were getting new furniture and asked my father to take their old sofa to the dump. As my father was driving to the dump, he glanced in the rear view mirror and thought that the couch looked pretty good. Our house was on the way to the dump, so he stopped at home. The couch stayed at our house for another 20 or so years. My mother had to throw a spread over it when their friends came for a visit so they wouldn't recognize their old couch.

Last night we took five grandkids to see The Polar Express in IMAX at a furniture store, of all places.. (We wish that Lily lived closer so she could have joined us.) The movie on the really big screen is wonderful.

Sandra stood in line with the kids while I went to get the sodas. When I returned, I said "Hi, Dave." to a former co-workier.
"You know that guy?" asked Sandra.
"We worked together at IBM."
"He just cut in line."
"Yep, that's him."

After finishing his snow plowing route yesterday, Mike drove up to my father's house. Huck had already plowed his driveway and shoveled the steps and was getting the snowblower started to clear a path to the woodpile. Mike helped with that chore and then went along.

Even though fewer than half the people were in the office yesterday, it was difficult to find a quiet time to work. The people who were there were extra chatty. Once I started work in earnest, I was able to get some good stuff done. I stayed until after 5:30. As I've mentioned to Sandra, the work that I'm doing will either be an important breakthrough or a massive sinkhole of time, energy, and money.

On the way home from work, I stopped in to Blockbuster for a movie. I usually go there on a Saturday morning and the place is filled with parents and kids. On a weekday night, however, the store is shelter to guys with stunned expressions, each carrying a half dozen DVDs. It wouldn't have taken too many deflections in my life's journey for me to have wound up there. I wasn't in the A/V club in high school, but spent a lot of time with the shortwave radio in the science project room.

A story about this coffee shows up on the news wires fairly frequently, but is worth repeating.

This storm is having a much greater impact on the coastal areas, where some places can expect upwards of 18" of snow. We'll be lucky to get a third of that. Of course, the news of the earthquake and tsunamis remind us that our winter storms are an inconvenience, rarely bringing widespread devastation, misery, and death.

Not to say that these storms can't be dangerous. Yesterday we went out to pick up some groceries for my father and drove along the highway where a fatal auto accident that had taken place an hour and half before.

We were out shopping because my father's back was giving him lots of pain. The good news, I guess, is that there was a reason for the pain. He was out at the wood pile and slipped on a wet palette. The discomfort was enough that he took some of his pain medication. He didn't like the feeling of that stuff, though, and asked that we get him some Tylenol. He insisted, however, that he would be able to plow his driveway and handle the small amount of shoveling in front of the doors. I'll call him this morning and may stop there after work this evening.

Mike's made one pass with the snow plow already. Once the rest of the household is awake, I'll get the snowblower going.

We had a great time with our Christmas gathering and hope that our guests did as well. With much able assistance, we got the meal on the table on time and dined well. A small team packed up the leftovers so that we could clear the table for the desserts. In the spirit of celebration, we consumed the annual caloric intake of a third-world nation.

The day evolved at a good pace and we were able to talk with everyone, although not at any great length. One of our nieces is moving to Los Angeles in the spring. Another in our extended family moved into a new apartment last week. Joe gave me a framed photo of Tom Brady. Santa brought American Girl dolls to Krista and Tess. Krista came to the party with the cutest curls in her long hair.

As expected, my father stayed home. We'll take a container of leftovers to him this afternoon. We had suggested that we would like to take him out to dinner at his favorite restaurant, Denny's, but he wasn't too sure about that.

Sandra and I talked for quite a while after the last people left, reviewing what went well and not so well. Maybe we take this too seriously, but we want to do a good job. If we're worried about getting the water and butter to people while they're eating, we will hurry past someone who'd like to talk and no doubt will hurt that person's feelings. That happened a couple of times. Someone came in with a gift. I was busy in the kitchen and set the gift aside until too late. Feelings are hurt by the little missteps as much as by the bigger failings.

Serving a meal to 30 people would be a slow lunch hour in almost any restaurant. I had one job in a diner where I worked six days a week for $65 (plus meals, if I could stand them). Granted, it's a lot easier to cook meals for lots of people when you have commercial-grade grills, ovens, stoves, refrigerators, and prep counters. But the customers are grumpier and you've got management around. The co-owner of the diner would have his evening meal, a plain burger with a salad on the side, the Russian salad dressing made up of a mix of mayonnaise, ketchup, and relish. We sliced our own pickles and cut up our own French fries. Clarence did the fries. Clarence had a room-temperature IQ, but he could peel, blanch, and cut potatoes.

We have a quiet day ahead, with a visit to my father the only event planned. We are expecting snow overnight, so I need to bring in wood.

Early this Christmas morning is bright and clear, the nearly-full Snow Moon setting in the northwest.

We'll have Christmas music on the radio on for most of the day. I bought a set of wireless speakers to bring music to the other rooms. The speakers have worked very well. For a while, 10 or 15 years ago, I ran speaker wires to various parts of the house. That was fine as long the furniture stayed in place. Moving anything meant a rewriting job. We live in an old house with several additions. Running wires in this house is really a professional's job and I'm not one. For background music, the wireless speakers are fine.

The radio station is playing classical renditions of various types of Christmas music, including familiar carols. I learned most of the Christmas carols that I know in elementary school. (I learned 'Deck Us All with Boston Charlie'.) At that time, we received more Christian instruction in public school than I did at church (Unitarian). We sang to 'O Christmas Tree' in German ('O Tannenbaum'). We also began each school day with prayer. It was a different time.

This will be a fun day. Some of our visitors we've not seen since last Christmas. Sandra and I won't get to talk long with many people, but everyone will likely have a good time. Good parties take care of themselves. We reminded Mike's kids to bring a football. I can still throw a decent pass, but I've got no business trying to run against these kids.

Life is good.

Houska Joulua (although some parts of Finland use Hyvaa Joulua). Next week we'll tackle Happy New Year.

My family celebrated the holiday on Christmas Eve. We gathered, usually at our our house, to have a meal and exchange gifts. We weren't very religious people and so didn't always go to church services later in the night. We had dinner at my grandparents' house on Christmas Day.

I don't recall that Santa Claus was a great part of all this. For one thing, in order to let him come to the house, we tried having me take a nap in the afternoon. That didn't work so well. Other ideas on how the presents got there soon took hold.

This evening we'll go to Mike and Lynn's for Chinese food. The adults in our families don't exchange presents, so we'll gather for food, fellowship, fun, and the last part of the Vikings-Packers game.

My stepfather was a neurosurgeon. We have one of his scalpels, which we use for carving.

The strong winds last night blew over our little tree. The winds done their business, bringing in much colder weather, and have settled down nicely. We'll get the tree in place again. A calm weather night is in the forecast. The rain melted all but a few clumps of snow We have a brown Christmas, but we can have a football game in the back yard between dinner and dessert tomorrow.

Today is a cooking and preparation day. We want to get much of the food prepared in advance so that we can enjoy tomorrow's company. It's easier to make gravy when you don't have an audience offering suggestions.

Our new little printer worked well last night. We were able to print pictures of Sandra and Joe's trip to PEI in the late summer. Sandra made an album of trip memorabilia as a gift for Joe. We still have a way to go to learn how to manage all those pictures - which ones to print, which ones to publish, which ones to archive. Printing's the easy part. A software engineer once told me, "Before you can process data, you have to manage data."

I was the last person in our group and one of the last people in the building to leave work yesterday. I was making good progress and didn't want to set the work aside in an imcomplete state for the long weekend. I reached a place where it'll be easy to start again next week. The office will be empty next week. About only people working next week will be the contractors. The permanent employees have to use up their remaining vacation time before the end of the year or lose it.

It's time to get cooking.

We have a small Christmas now. It's outside, on the picnic table, visible from both wings of the house. Woody decorated it with the big, old-fashioned colored lights and it looks great.

When I was a kid, two or three years old, parents grew tired of my playing with the ornaments and nearly tipping the tree over. So, they put the tree in my playpen.

Don't let on, but Mike and Lynn have been hiding the kids' Christmas presents at our house. Sandra and her mother have done a magnificent job wrapping the presents. In addition to wonderful toys, clothes, and Red Sox memorabilia, they bought some spiritual books to bring the holiday back to its original intent. So, to see if we've got this straight, Mike and Lynn bought books such as The Stations of the Cross, while I bought a copy of the aforementioned Linkin Park/Jay-Z mashup (the PG version).

This will be a quiet day at work. Tomorrow's a company holiday and a number of people are taking today and most of next week off. I started on some very interesting work yeserday (using UML to model an information set, for those of you who care about such things). I'll try to get to a good stopping place this afternoon.

I have to do some shopping on the way home and am already steeling myself against my wild-eyed fellow shoppers. This has been a nutty week for commuting as well. Yesterday I listened to the traffic report on the radio for the first time in many weeks, wanting to know about the two mile backup on Interstate 495. (An accident on the Mass Pike jammed up traffic all around.)

Tom, Pamenter has often said that every person who owns a personal computer becomes a system adminstrator, whether the person wants to or not. (He also says that system administration is a lot easier with a Mac.) We bought a small color printer so that we could print some digital pictures. Unpacking and setting up the physical printer was a snap, about five minutes of work. The software was another story. The need for new software was brought about by the plug-and-play USB connection that gave a hieroglyphic error message. Finding the right drivers on the HP site was the major challenge. A search for my specific model number turned up nothing. The search results kept bringing me back to a site where I could buy another printer of the same type I already have. At the end, I did find the software, a version 6.0 of something that showed version 7.2 while it was running, and we now have a working printer.

We saw our biopolar friend recently. The police visited her again. There were reports from her neighbors that she was making too much noise during the night. She says that her windows were closed and that they were all wrong. When she visits people, she stays a long time and leaves hosts looking like they'd been dodging highway traffic.

It was nice to find a little Patriots bib in the laundry, left here during a visit from Cassandra.

On this first day of astronomical winter here in the northern hemisphere, I renew my gratitude that I don't work or live outside. It's cold, very cold. One time, many years ago, I was hitchhiking to Toronto (it seemed like a good idea at the time) and stood outside overnight on a night such as this in Syracuse, New York, waiting for a ride. Finally, as the day broke, it warmed up enough to snow. I was lucky that I was just cold. On a similarly cold night a few years later, a friend had a bit too much to drink and fell asleep in a snow bank. He lost most of the fingers on one hand to frostbite.

After getting off to such a cheery start, perhaps we should try again.

I had a nice, long phone conversation with my cousin last night. We hadn't talked for quite a while. She lives in central Florida. Her house was in the path of three hurricanes this year. The repairs on their roof were completed just a few weeks ago. I spent quite a bit of time with her and her sister when they were growing up in New Hampshire. We enjoy each other's company and say that we'll be in more regular contact. But, then, a few years slip past us so easily.

Yesterday afternoon I received an invitation for a job interview in downtown Boston. Unfortunately, the invitation was for today and I can't get away from work. I'm hoping that another day next week will work out.

Most of the area schools have closed for the day, including the district that covers our town. Grumble, grumble. We have 2-4" (5-10cm) of snow of fluffy snow, the kind more appropriate for a broom than a shovel or snow blower. When I was a kid, it was six inches of snow, minimum, before they'd consider calling it a snow day. And this was before road salt was so widely used. The road crews used sand. We lived on top of a small hill. On snow days, the neighborhood kids would get brooms and sweep off the sand from the roads so that we could go sledding.

The forecast says that we're in a bit more snow, followed by a cold and windy night. The National Weather Service has issued a wind chill advisory for tonight because of strong winds and temperatures around zero F (3.2 hectares). When we get a strong northwest wind, the kind that brings in cold weather like this, we're apt to get a downdraft in our stove. The two parts of the house, our house and the MacGregors' wing, form a canyon and the stove pipe is in the middle of it. The wind gets strong enough that it can blow out the fire. Adding another eight feet to the chimney would take care of the problem, but the engineering would be difficult and the results aesthetically unpleasing. Better, I guess, to have the occasional puff of smoke in the room.

My father's cable TV is installed. When we visited yesterday, he asked me how he could switch between the cable and his old antenna. I asked why. He wasn't able to find one of his favorite shows, Seinfeld. After a bit of experimenting with the remote control, we got the TV set up so that he could get to the station that carried Seinfeld. He's still not too sure of it all, but he was impressed that the Weather Channel carried the weather conditions for the town next to him.

We saw some friends this weekend, people with whom I used to work. With good friends, you can pick up conversation where you left off.

Happy Birthday, RSM.

I've started mixing the new wood in with the seasoned. The general guideline is that you should have half of your wood supply left by the end of January. We're far ahead of that pace and will use up our seasoned wood before the winter is done. It's ok to mix some green wood when you've got a hot fire. Most days, with Sandra's parents around, the fire is going nearly around the clock. I'll start it in the morning, but there are usually still a few glowing embers in the stove.

The cable company finally got around to completing the installation at my father's house. He's still not convinced that it's a good deal. More to the point, he's convinced that it's not a good deal. We'll see. One of the major reasons for arranging for cable is that the Celtics games are shown only on cable. The Celtics are playing decent basketball. Their losses have been just by a few points, particularly on a rough West Coast trip. They're one game out of first place (in a division where no one has a winning percentage).

It's a given, and should surprise no one, that shoppers during the week before Christmas are, without a doubt, off-the-road, wheels-in-the-sand, and heading-for-a-cliff bonkers. That said, they weren't that bad yesterday. I went shopping, mostly for groceries, but also a couple of gifts while I was at it. I expected the unexpected and had a pretty good time. I was the only white guy in the rap section of Newbury Comics and the only person over 50 in the whole store.

My shopping trip was part of the preparation for our Christmas family gathering. My father has opted out. I don't blame him. We'll have about 30 for dinner. In a previous life I worked as a short-order cook for nearly five years. As a result, I have some experience preparing food on a large scale. Unlike brother-in-law Scott, however, the food that I prepare is strictly utilitarian - simple meats and vegetables. Sandra saw our next-door neighbor yesterday; he gave her more detailed instructions on how to prepare the top-round roast that we'd ordered from his shop. The day will be fun. We have lots of people on our side.

My fellow commuters are wackos. Early this morning we had less than an inch (~2cm) of snow. My commute this morning took an hour and a half (dunno what that is in metric), three times the usual. As I sat in the thick traffic, I watched those who weren't driving in the breakdown lane putting on great displays of lurching lane changes. It's December. It snows in New England in December. You wouldn't think that it would be a surprise.

The New York Times > Arts > Television > Moyers Leaves a Public Affairs Pulpit With Sermons to Spare. A voice that the folks in this corner will miss a lot.

The two agency calls turned out to be duplicates, both discussing the same job. Even so, it's a good sign when agencies are calling people, particularly when they're calling me.

There is no better celebration of bad writing than The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. Of course, we don't want to omit the celebrities. A book report by Britney Spears is up for auction. (The link may go away after the auction is complete.) I know that I've written badly in the past (including the not too distant past) and have been spared greater public embarrassment only by my relative anonymity and the grace of good editors.

The next two weeks at work will be busy, made all the more so by holiday gatherings that jump into the middle of the day. We don't have Christmas parties as such, not the kinds portrayed on TV. No drinking, at least none that I see, and no wild antics. The big parties are a thing of the past, victims of budget cuts and liability laws. Anyway, there are a couple of luncheons, one in the office and another at a local Chinese restaurant. Most people will be eager to get back to their offices to wrap up their projects.

We ordered the meats for our Christmas gathering from a local market. Last night our next-door neighbor, who works at the market, called to make sure that our order was right because it was different from what we ordered last year.

The longer-range weather forecasts (five to seven days out) have improved dramatically over the last few years. It wasn't that long ago that a three-day forecast was a big deal. Last night, however, some of the local TV meteorologists were getting all breathless at the prospect of a nor'easter on Sunday night into Monday. This morning, the National Weather Service is hedging.

Yesterday two employment agencies contacted me with information about a couple of management positions. That, along with the telephone interview that I had yesterday afternoon, indicates that the market is changing. It's a long way from initial contact to the point where I have to think seriously about changing jobs, but it's very interesting to consider the possibilities.

Family concerns and my own energy levels are still considerations as I ponder a new job, much the same way that they were in late summer when two other job opportunities came by. Any new, permanent management job is going to require a lot from me and lot from my family. See, there I go thinking seriously about stuff already when I said that it's a long way away. I'll keep answering the phone calls and emails and find out what's next.

Did I mention that I received a report from my doctor on a couple of lab tests. I'm normal. How often do I hear that?

Forbes.com:: "Imaginary Companions Can Be Child's Fast Friends "

I didn't have an imaginary friend as a child, but have often imagined friends who weren't.

I didn't crash someone else's system yesterday. I have been setting up a couple of systems in the lab, a project that's taken many more days than I'd planned. (This is the same lab where I didn't spill coffee last week.) The computer systems in the lab are set on shelves in tall racks, perhaps 10 systems on each rack. I haven't spent a lot of time in computer labs during the past few years. Systems are much smaller and much more powerful. The systems look a lot alike, so it would be easy to mess up someone else's. I didn't, though, and finished the day with the setup that I wanted.

The house is busy this morning. Mike and his crew of workers arrived early, wearing their Christmas hats, to finish plastering the ceiling and replacing the mantel over our fireplace. Yesterday they replaced several doors. The room looks great. We'll set up dining tables in that room for our Christmas gathering.

Adam and Woody arrived safely at the Island last night. They stopped for dinner at a new restaurant in Cardigan. It's surprising that a town of 200 year-round people can support two restaurants, two gas stations, and a post office.

Adam and Woody left for the Island shortly after five o'clock. They should make it in 11 hours, plus or minus. There's a web cam that shows cars crossing the Confederation Bridge from New Brunswick to PEI. (The picture bounces somewhat because the camera is sitting high on light pole that sways a bit in the wind.) Once, when Sandra was on her way to see her folks, I caught sight of her on the bridge.

The classical station in Boston is starting to put more Christmas music into its rotation. They're playing a couple an hour now. By Christmas Eve, that's all they'll play. Some of pop stations have been playing all Christmas music since the weekend before Thanksgiving.

The Rockettes are playing in Boston this season. The local PBS station reviewer commented that the dancers performed to "bland arrangements of tunes unworthy of the elevator."

Job prospects are picking up. I've sent resumes to four places in the last few days. I'll have a phone interview today or tomorrow.

So Pedro is going to the Mets. Well, it's not surprising. He wanted the respect that a long-term contract would demonstrate. We'll miss him. He's been the best pitcher in town since Roger Clemens. Theo Epstein is a smart guy, however, and can put a good team on the field.

My mother received a tax bill from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue for a non-trivial amount of money. The bill was for her income during the year after she died.

From the old Beatles tune, Taxman:

Now my advice for those who die
Declare the pennies on your eyes

I'm hoping that a phone call to the DOR will clear this up. (He says, naïvely.)

We went to the camp yesterday to finish the winter preparations. During a recent windstorm, a large birch branch fell against the outhouse, but there was no real damage. Dunno how it managed to avoid hitting the power line coming into the camp.

Inside, the mice had been hard at work. Several things had been knocked off of the shelves. Somehow, they opened a metal container of pepperkaker and ate their fill. They haven't figured out how to open the breadbox yet. Ah, well. It's their woods, too. With this year's acorn shortage, I figure that the squirrels are eating the mice's food, causing the mice to be more aggressive in the hunt for theirs.

You will be comforted to know that at least one company that ships Finnish breads to the US conforms to the FDA's bioterrorism regulations. I am looking for a place that sells the heavy Finnish rye that we used to call reikaleipa. The places that we've found so far sell a lighter, Swedish-type rye.

The funeral service for my friend's mother was held at the local funeral home. Every seat was taken and several people were standing, a gathering of family, townspeople, co-workers, church members, and other friends. The stories of her positive energy were plentiful. She and her husband loved to travel. She carried a light bulb on her travels, observing that hotel rooms only had 40 watt bulbs, not bright enough for a game of Scrabble, which she also carried. After the service, we gathered at the church for lunch and a chance to talk.

Last night Sandra and I went out to dinner with her parents. After dinner we drove around to look at the Christmas lights. You know that the spirit of Jesus has descended up us when you see an 8-foot (245cm) Homer Simpson dressed as Santa Claus.

In the past three days I've received several leads for permanent jobs. The most of the leads came in notes from friends. With these leads comes the renewed questions about my on-going work. What kinds of work do I like and do well? How much time am I willing to give over to work? (It was quite a treat when I was no longer coming home so late that Marley would bark at me when I came in the door. Now he barely looks up because he's at Sandra's parents' apartment, waiting for leftovers.) Even though I have pondering to do, I'll send copies of my resume and cover letters today.

Adam and Woody are making a quick trip to PEI to take care of a few things before winter really locks up the place. They'll probably take Woody's new Blazer instead of this: http://www.bikeforest.com/cb/couchintro.html.

The son of my mother's friend had recently received a Ph.D. in sociology or something similar. "He's a doctor," the friend said, "but not the kind that can help you."

For two days in a row I didn't spill a cup of coffee in the computer lab. I've been setting up a system in the lab and have needed some assistance with a couple of things. On the way back from the espresso machine the last two days, I have met up with one of the support engineers and we've gone into the lab to take a look at my problems. There was no place to leave the coffee outside the lab, so I brought it in with me, a clear violation of all that is sensible. What will I do in the future? Well, we've set up the systems with remote access software so that I can spill coffee in my office as often as I need to.

I've found that Walter Mossberg's Wall Street Journal columns on Wednesdays and Thursdays are a good source of clear information about personal computers and related technology.

Because I've been keeping more sensible work hours, which includes coming home before 7PM, I haven't listened to David Brudnoy as much in the past couple of years. He was erudite, an old-school professor, with a thoughtful libertarian view of things large and small.

Let's see. On TV tonight we have Get Down Tonight: The Disco Explosion (PBS), Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer (WB), WWE SmackDown! (UPN), Extreme Makeover (ABC), and Survivor (CBS). It makes me glad that we have cable so that we have alternatives such as Hunting 201, 101 Most Sensational Crimes of Fashion!, and the Essence of Emeril, where we can learn how to make cheese herbed popovers. Is it any wonder that this - http://www.tvbegone.com/ - is one of the hottest items for Christmas?

The lead story in our local paper told us about poisoning rats in an old factory in Gardner. The stories about war, famine, and disease in other parts of the world were below the fold and on the inside pages.

Oh, and this gem from yesterday's paper: " The bloodstains and nauseating smell discovered inside a Crescent Street apartment Monday could have been caused by the tenant, a 37-year-old Russian illegal immigrant, who had partaken in serious drinking days before the discovery and also suffered from minor bleeding wounds, authorities said yesterday.... The odor and scene at [the tenants]’s apartment led investigators Monday to believe a decomposing body might have been inside. " He's not dead. He just smells that way.

Yesterday the town where I work was having problems with its water system. An email went out to all employees in the two buildings, urging us to limit our use of the rest rooms until the problem was resolved. Mercifully the crisis was resolved quickly.

The Grammy nominees were announced yesterday - http://www.grammy.com/awards/grammy/47list.TXT. Do you think that, in 30 or 40 years, our grandchildren will get all misty-eyed when the oldies station plays Hoobastank?

At the suggestion of a grandson, I've been listening to Linkin Park. Not bad, although I'm still pretty much a three-chord rock-and-roll guy. The mash-up (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:cln8b5b4xsqa~T1) with Jay-Z is also pretty good.

On 8 December 1980, I was working at a small newspaper when the news of John Lennon's murder came over the wire. It was late in the evening, so there was just one other reporter in the editorial room. He and I sat in silence for a time and then went home.

The seventh of December was covered with snow ...

It's just a coating of snow with some freezing rain to seal it.

We have a friend who is bipolar and who has been, somewhat proudly, off her meds for quite a while. The symptoms are now gently humorous - the visit that lasts a bit too long, the odd gift (two cups of leftover Chinese food), the intense and non-stop talking. Her name showed up in the police log for playing loud music in the middle of the night. We've seen her out in her yard in her bathrobe, tending to the plants, in the chilly early morning darkness. She's been to court because of a parking ticket that she refuses to pay.

She's not a great danger to herself or others, not now, anyway. The threads in her life are starting to fray, though. Her husband moved out (was kicked out, depending on who's telling the story) and won't come back until she accepts help. The parking ticket could result in a revoked driver's license. We wonder how she can pay the bills.

Every illness requires, at some level, the willing participation of the patient in the healing process. Whether we have a broken leg, ALS, or a cold, we have to do the right things that will strengthen us and, to whatever extent possible, make us whole. Many mental illnesses, however, rob the patient of that ability to participate fully in the treatment. Of course, there's no assurance that the meds will be effective or tolerable, either.

Here we tread gingerly, taking care not to judge or presume the right course of treatment. (Even the professionals have to try different combinations of meds to get it right.) Acting with humility is one of the things that we, as adults, have to do.

I'm not very good at estimating crowds, so there could have been anywhere between 50 and 100 people at the party after CasSandra's christening. Lots of good food and company. The weather was mild, so the kids could play outside most of the time. Lynn and Mike are such gracious hosts. We're having a much smaller gathering of family at Christmas (20-25) and you will be hearing about it for a month before and a month afterwards.

The New York Times reported that IBM is in talks to sell its PC division. I don't have direct experience with the desktop systems, but I have been a great fan of their laptops for a long time. The keyboard, among other things, is outstanding. I hope that the sales doesn't disrupt the development and production of these fine machines.

The Boston Globe has a article in today's paper saying that this IBM news is part of a large consolidation in the IT industry: http://tinyurl.com/55ke2.

Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. Here's the science: http://www.weathernotebook.org/transcripts/1997/07/07.html

We visited with my father yesterday afternoon and spent most of the visit looking for his hearing aid that had fallen off a bureau. We looked under furniture, around the wood stove, in the basket of 10-year-old newspapers, but didn't find it. We'll try again next time. It couldn't have gone far. He still has another. I suggested that we drop the other one in the hope that it would lead us to the first. He can get by, for the time being, with just the one. Besides, only needs them when people come to visit.

Also during the visit we looked through tattered paper albums and cigar boxes full of pictures. My grandmother had prepared some of the albums. Some of the pictures are 80 years old, photos of my father as a kid. There were lots of pictures of unknown people, many taken in Finland, stone-faced old Finns caught in a moment when all the world was in black and white. We'll probably never know who these people were.

Marley's enjoying having Sandra's parents in the house. Sandra's mother will be lying on the couch and Marley comes over to rest his head on her leg, giving and getting comfort in equal measure.

Hunting season has started. I passed a couple of hunters who were getting some supplies (beer) before heading out. They were dressed in camouflage jackets and pants and fluorescent orange hats. Do they want to be seen or not? There's no snow cover so it's difficult to track the deer. The forecast suggests that we might get some snow this week.

The funeral for my father's friend, Ben, was well-attended. We talked with Ben's daughter for a bit. "Now you're the only one with these stories," she said to my father.

He related one story about a time when he and Ben were riding the rails during the Depression. The train stopped. A railroad cop rounded up all of the guys who were on the top and in the box cars. The cop made all of the guys stand in a line and show the palms of their hands. He looked at my father's and Ben's calloused hands and said, "You guys can go. You know the meaning of a day's work."

My father and Ben were in their late teens and had spent a lot of time in the local gym, particularly working out on the high bar. Their hands were calloused from the workouts, not work. They'd not worked on anything harder than picking blueberries in the local fields.

Lynn stopped by yesterday afternoon with CasSandra. C. will be christened tomorrow, with a party to follow. Sandra's brother and sister will stay here tonight.

Lynn said that Krista had asked if C. could come in for Show and Tell. So, yesterday, Lynn brought the baby to the school. The kids in the first (Tess) and third (Krista) grades were quite excited. Joe's fifth grade class was more reserved, more cool. The teacher asked if there were any questions. After a few moments of silence, Lynn said, "Alright, I know that there's one question that you want to ask so I'll answer it now. Yes, Joe was this cute when he was a baby.

Last night we went to an art show. Last spring friend spent a week in France with eight other women. They are all artists - pen and ink, painting, and photography. This was a showing of the work that did on the trip and also a chance to tell the story of the trip to a wider audience.

It seems like we're getting out more and I guess that's true. We're just catching up, seeing people we should have seen six months, a year, two years ago. Good friendships are resilient, but we should never take them for granted.

The memorial service for John's mother will be next Saturday morning. She was an interesting and interested person, always greeting us with warmth and good humor. She loved opera and travel.

Friend John sent an email yesterday, reporting that his mother had died. They'd just brought her home from the hosptial and were making ready for hospice care. There will be a memorial service tomorrow morning.

John noted the unreality of it all. While this major and sometimes overwhelming event has taken place, the rest of life goes on around us. The same TV shows are on. Massachusetts drivers are still idiots. Kids are hitting their resonance frequencies as they anticipate Christmas. How do we fit this death in with the tremendous ordinariness around us? And if it doesn't fit, what then?

I'll take my father to the services for his friend, Ben, this morning. The owner of the funeral home is a good friend. He lives year-around at Queen Lake. The stairs to the funeral home are pretty steep, so my father called the owner and asked if he could come in the back way, using the elevator.

There was talk of snow today, but the cloud cover seems to be pretty thin.

He said, "potatoes".

Marley's getting signals from the dog satellite again (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0326900/). He's pacing the room with a low growl. When I let him outside, he looks around the yard and comes right back in. He does this four or five times until it passes and he lies down in front the stove again.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Why 2004 was the year of the blog

"The first of December was covered with snow. And so was the Turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston."

We'll overstate things a bit for the sake of poetry. There was just a bit of light snow falling very early this morning in central Massachusetts. The rain has washed it away.

Today is Huck's 91st birthday. The morning paper, however, lists the obituary of Ben, one of his closest friends and traveling buddies. My father was recently talking about Ben, noting that he was one of the last of the old gang. The services are Friday morning. I plan to attend.

As I started reading the paper this morning, I remarked to myself, "Wouldn't it be nice if, someday, just one day, the obituary page was empty?"

This is the last official day of the 2004 hurricane season. Someone forgot to tell Otto, a minimal tropical storm in the Atlantic east of Bermuda.

For those who are interested in exploring Canadian history, here's a pointer to the Archives Canada: http://www.archivescanada.ca/english/index.html

[This posting is later than usual. The weblog service that I use, blogger.com, was having technical difficulty until just a few minutes ago.]

Yesterday afternoon I walked past a display of wreaths. The smell of the evergreen brought the feeling, for the first time, really felt that Christmas is approaching. We've had Christmas gifts and displays in the stores since August, but it's been just noise to me. Christmas lights went up on many houses over the weekend and they look nice enough. The fragrance of the greens, though, brought me around. I'm now ready to face the season, a season that brings us stuff like this - http://www.hammacher.com/publish/71144.asp?promo=sportleisure.

My mother's been gone for more than four years, but we're still receiving mail for her. It ranges from Catholic worker newspaper to the journal of the Insight Meditation Center in Barre MA. How else might we learn about the grim tale of the Foolish Monkey - http://www.dharma.org/ij/archives/1999a/ss_monkey.htm?

The work deadline that had been scheduled for Friday, in my mind, at leasst, is now the end of the day on Wednesday. Today and tomorrow may be a bit frantic. I'm pretty sure that I have enough time. The major difficulty comes from interesting interruptions.

We're heading into an odd season. This next month has most of the usual work challenges. I have an important deadline on Friday and I'm quite anxious about it. At the same time, however, many people, adults and children alike, have already checked out in anticipation of the holidays. People at work are talking about decorating the office area. It isn't often that the outside world infiltrates the workspace.

We had a delightful holiday, including another Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat. We met Jennie's father, step-mother, brother, and sister at the Publick House in Sturbridge. The meal and service were good, but the restaurant did a less than stellar job of scheduling. We arrived early and were seated right away. Others, though, had to wait a long time, filling up the hall and stairs. One of our party has MS and gets about with an electric scooter. Navigating through the crowds was quite a challenge.

Sandra and I stayed overnight in Northampton. We booked online and chose one of the better rooms, with a promised view of the park. When we arrived, we discovered that we had a view of the alley. After a discussion with the front desk, we were given another room. This time, we could look over the air conditioning units and vents from the restaurant and see the park - ing lot. We had good time in town all the same. It's refreshing to be in a place where not everyone is white and straight. We visited with Adam, Jennie, and Lily for Friday night supper.

George Washington Papers: Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation

I left work early yesterday so that I could get my car inspected. Massachusetts requires an inspection of all cars once a year or when the ownership changes. There is a basic safety inspection (lights, horn, etc.), but mostly it's an emissions check. My greenhouse gases were in good order. In years past, they'd jack the car up and check the tie rods. They'd also poke at the body to see if there were dangerous amounts of rust. One friend had patched his car with press plates from the local newspaper. You could read last month's news in reverse print on the fenders of his car.

I still get nervous during inspections, going back to my days of driving $250 cars. A friend called my Volkswagen a Rolls Canardly - it rolls down the hill and canardly make up the other side. Repairs were simple, though, usually requiring just a screwdriver, pliers, and the occasional hammer. One time, I was driving along and the engine caught fire. (Some oil had squirted out from the filler tube.) A few wires burned up before I could blow out the fire. I restarted the car and it ran fine. I never did find out what those wires did.

We've ordered cable television for my father for his 91st birthday next week. He'll be able to watch the Celtics games this winter; those games are only on cable.

My father worked construction. One day, it was so cold and windy that the bosses shut down the site and sent everyone home. My father arrived home and looked next door where his parents lived. My grandfather was on top of the roof, on top of a ladder, on top of a five-gallon bucket, swaying in the wind, trying to reconnect the TV antenna lead that had come loose. My father hollered, got my grandfather down, and went up there himself to finish the work. My grandfather was in his 70s at the time; my father would have been close to my age.

Earlier this spring, my father was having a problem with his sailboat. A cable had come slipped and the end had snapped up to the top of the mast. So, he gets on top of the boathouse, lassoes the top of the mast with a bit of rope, and tries to pull the mast close enough so he could reach the cable. He couldn't pull the mast (and boat) close enough. We arrived some time later, lowered the mast, retrieved the cable, and put things back in order.

Adam once observed, "It's a wonder that you're not any crazier than you are."

Want to feel old? A key contributor to the Firefox browser development team is 19. .Linux News: Open Source: Mozilla Firefox Browser Blazes Across the Globe

We had a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat. My brother-in-law, Scott and his wife Val hosted a delightful dinner for 18 or so. I sat at the kids' table and had a great time. Scott worked as a chef for many years and is able to plan, prepare, and present wonderful meals.

On the ride home from the Cape, Sandra and her mother sat in the back seat and sang in lovely harmony. They sang rounds ("Scotland's Burning), hymns ("That Old Rugged Cross" and "We Gather Together"), and others ("O Canada").

Popular Science is out with its second annual survey of the worst jobs in science: http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/article/0,20967,713471,00.html.

It's a great comfort to look in the back yard and see all that new wood. Up close it smells good, too. We'll be warm this winter. I don't know how our wood guy makes a living at the prices he charges.

This should be a quiet week at work, with folks mentally checking out in advance of the holiday weekend.

Our niece, Rachael, is 26 today.

John Steinbeck observed that kids and dogs are the great ambassadors. When our boys were younger and involved in sports, it seemed as though we knew everyone in town. The same was true when we'd be walking our dogs around the neighborhood, particularly Bob and Raye, a pair of Springer spaniels. People would stop and talk with us; they'd pass us by if we were walking alone.

So, it was a surprise yesterday to find ourselves in places where we knew people. We just haven't been getting out much. We went to a local apple orchard to pick up a few things for the holidays and saw several people from our other home town. Last night we went to a musical production. A neighbor was a featured singer and had invited us. Imagine, Karl and Sandra out on a Saturday night. And we knew several people in the audience, although we had to coach each other on some of the names.

When we're at home on Sunday mornings, we get to enjoy a gospel music radio show on a local, 600 watt station, WCUW. The station was described by one reviewer as "quagmire of incompetence and apathy." Nevertheless, we've been listening to it for more than 20 years and the signal has gone silent just a few times.

Temperatures in the mid-50s (13C) have melted the snow on the ground and the ice on the ponds.
It's orange season again. Although we can get oranges from Chile throughout our summer, it's not quite the same. The oranges from Florida are showing up now and from California around the first of the year. Grandson Michael has been selling oranges to raise money for the high school band. We bought two boxes.

Tomorrow we'll go to the Cape to celebrate an early Thanksgiving with Sandra's family. Mike's family won't be going. Matt is in the Pop Warner Super Bowl in Leominster. We're sorry to miss the game.

So today is a day of errands. We'll see my father this afternoon. We'll learn if he was able to fix the hydraulic line on the snow plow.

Some 20 years ago we were visiting an aunt and uncle. We wanted to take them out for dinner. "Why should we go out? We have plenty of food here." Then, we offered to take them out for dessert. "Why should we go out? We have plenty of dessert here."

We remember that encounter often, first as a gentle mocking and then as a realization that we're becoming them. We have plenty of food, plenty of dessert. We try to break the routine, but the Newton's first law of motion is strong.

This morning we received the first of four cords of wood. The price is very good. It's green, but will be good by the spring.

I didn't quite make my work deadline yesterday. I was slow getting back to full stride and didn't get done all that I'd hoped. I expect to have this stage of the work completed by Monday afternoon.

Speaking of which, it's time to go there.

There's a skim coat of ice on the pond near our house. According to lore, early ice portends a mild winter. "If there be ice in November that will bear a duck, there will be nothing thereafter but sleet and muck." (http://www.almanac.com/holidays/winter/)

Although my nom de blog is Roaster Boy, a name drawn from a coffee blend at local shop, we generally buy our coffee from Equal Exchange. We started buying from them years ago because they were among the first to offer Nicaraguan coffee. ("A light nutty aroma with good body, refined acidity, and a mild finish.") The current issue of Fast Company has a good profile of the company- http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/88/trade-secrets.html. The Equal Exchange web site is http://www.equalexchange.com/.

Yesterday I worked my first full day in several. I spent a good bit of time working with other writers on Javascript and shell script issues.

The company where I work has started blocking POP and IMAP connections, meaning that I can no longer get direct access to my personal email while at work. I've been using my Gmail (Google mail) account more. The interface is interesting and a bit better than the webmail service that we get through our ISP. The account is free and the ads are quite unobtrusive. I can give away a few Gmail accounts, so let me know if you're interested. More about it here: http://gmail.google.com/gmail/help/about.html.

Yesterday morning the MacGregors sought a new home for their dog, Molly. A yellow Lab, Molly is just a year old and full of energy, too much energy for an adult household. She'll be great in a family with kids. We're a bit subdued around here, including Marley (our nearly nine-year-old black Lab).

Sandra's mother drove the car for the first time in a couple of months. It was a short trip, about a half a mile, and she felt quite good.

My mother often quoted William Blake, "Energy is an eternal delight." This cold of mine has dragged on far longer than necessary. I came home early from work yesterday and slept for several hours. I'm getting concerned about a project that has a deadline on Thursday. So I'll keep this short and go along to work.

Rhinovirus 1, Hakkarainen 0.

As I decide to home from work or not, I have one more factor to consider these days - how much will this cost me? If I don't go to work, I don't get paid, which is the reality for most workers around the world. The folks who are living paycheck to paycheck have to worry about this a lot more (http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poet=9717&poem=119763).

So, yesterday I stayed home from work and spent the day in my red, flannel pajamas (you needed that image, right?) and mostly slept. It was a busy household. A visiting nurse came to see Sandra's mother. Sandra and her father prepared us for the snow, bringing in wood, getting the shovels and scrapers from the back shed. It's a bustling enterprise here on Fridays.

The snow was about as predicted, two to three inches of fluffy stuff. This morning I'll get the bird feeders filled up. The cardinals are stunning against the white landscape.

In Flanders Fields - by John Macrae

With the baseball season over, most excellent that it was, it's time to resume my grandparental training. Last night I watched SpongeBob SquarePants. I also eagerly await the movie. The younger generation calls me Iso, short for Isoisä, Finnish for grandfather (old father, really). Sandra is known as Buppy, aka the Bupster. Lily used to call us buppyandiso, even when talking to us individually.

Lately I've wrestled with software problems that ought to take about 15 seconds and, instead, use up the better part of a day. Some of it is my own doing as I resist the most obvious solution - uninstall and reinstall the software. If we had to take out the engine and put it back when our car wouldn't start, we might get more than a little upset. Imagine if doctors treated us that way when we came in with a headache. With software, however, we have an incredible tolerance for bad design and worse support.

Friend T. finished the New York Marathon this past Sunday, her second time running New York and third marathon overall.

The weather forecast for Friday afternoon are suggesting that we might get our first substantial snow of the season. Our snowblower is still in the back yard. Last year I had to pour gasoline into the carburetor to get it started. My commute is much shorter than in years past, but there are still plenty of opportunities for adventure in the season's first snow.

Sandra's mother and father returned from the Cape yesterday morning. Her doctor has scheduled some follow-up evaluations.

Whenever we discuss someone else's life, particularly someone's health, we walk up to the line of privacy and may occasionally step over it. The challenge is to keep family and friends informed while respecting the privacy that each person deserves. We may make mistakes, but they're always in the spirit of trying to be helpful.

I had a nice chat with Beverly at the Cardigan PEI post office. I'd called to find more about continuing to have their mail forwarded down here. "And how is Woody?" she asked. Cardigan is a town of 200 on the east coast of the island.

We had a few snow flurries last night, just enough to remind us who is in charge.

This morning Mozilla released its 1.0 version of Firefox, an excellent web browser. It has better security that Internet Explorer and some nice features, such as tabbed browsing. It also supports a number of extensions, add-on utilities that make web browsing easier and more fun. I've used early versions since June and quickly made it my default browser. If you're interested, you can find out more at http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/. A note of caution, though - the servers are apt to be very busy today because of the new release.

Sandra's mother was hospitalized briefly at the Cape yesterday. She seems to be doing ok and is coming home this morning. Woody has canceled a planned trip with Adam to Prince Edward Island to finish the winter preparations.

Cell phones have become a key part of lives, haven't they? Sandra and I were at the camp when her sister, Barbara, called to tell us that their mother wasn't well. We don't have a landline phone there and so rely on the cell phone as our link to the outside world. In turn we were able to keep in touch with others in the family, even though no one was at home.

Although the pace of the Always On life has slowed a good bit since I changed jobs, I and we spend a lot of our day electronically connected. The phone is always there, email, instant messaging, and the Web often. My father likes to remind us that, when he was a kid, commercial radio didn't exist.

The leaves are down in the woods, letting sunlight shine on the camp road. For the warmer months, the camp road is a tunnel, but now we drive through sun and shadows. The mice at the camp are getting ready for winter. They found a package of peanuts and had themselves a fine feast. We've put the other edible goodies into the refrigerator.

Baby Cassandra hasn't been sleeping much. Mike and Lynn have remarkable endurance and reservoirs of good humor.

One of the best things for that which ails you is to watch a group of six-year-olds play soccer on a cool fall afternoon. There aren't lines of offense and defense so much as there are clouds of probability around the ball, energy barely contained. "Kick it with your left foot," the coach said. "No, the other left." The final score was something like 8-8. They played without goalies.

With the leaves down, you can see a lot further in November, but there's not as much to look at.

We'll go to the camp today to continue to close up the place. We'll also go to our favorite apple farm (http://www.redapplefarm.com) and then go to my father's. He seems to have things pretty well under control these days, but there are the occasional heavy-lifting chores that require some help.

Did you know that you can buy motorcycle insurance through the AARP?

Got Mouse? The Meow Mix Cafe - http://www.meowmix.com/newsevents/meowcafe.asp - is the first restaurant for cats.

It's been said that one of the keys to serenity and clear thinking is gratitude. There isn't a day that passes that I don't say, to myself always and to others often, "I work hard, but this isn't hard work."

The technology that delivers our important news continues to evolve. Ten years ago, Sandra called me on my cell phone to tell me about Joe's birth; I was driving on Interstate 495 at the time. A few years later, I learned about Tess while I was driving Route 101 in Silicon Valley, California.

So, it was expected that Mike would call me on my cell phone with the announcement of Cassandra. What's new is that much of the news spread via instant messenger. Matt was online at the time and sent the news to all of the people in his buddy list. As a result, some kid named Tony heard about the baby before Michael Francis did. Michael Francis was at football practice at the time. He informed his friend Erin via IM as well.

After visiting at the hospital, Matt rode back with me. We talked a bit about music and stuff. I was gratified to learn that I wasn't totally clueless. I knew the names of his favorite band (Linkin Park) and radio station (Kiss-108). A supra-middle-aged guy trying to be hip about music isn't always the most attractive sight in the world, but Matt was polite.

Cassandra Joan Hakkarainen (http://www.queenlake.com/pictures/Cassandra/) was born at 3:30PM on Wednesday, 3 November 2004, eight pounds and 20 inches. She and her mother are doing fine, with all of her family delighted beyond words.

Marley came upstairs and settled down on the floor at the foot of our bed, something that he typically does only during bad thunderstorms.

At the time of this writing, we're waiting for final election results from Ohio that will give President Bush the victory. Senator Kerry hasn't conceded and there may be a court fight. There's little doubt, though, about the outcome.

Texas football coach Darrell Royal used to say, when you get to the end zone, act like you've been there before.

We're due to get a new grandchild today. Sandra's father has gone to Mike & Lynn's to get the other kids off to school. M&L needed to be at the hospital by 7:00. Sandra and I will pick up the kids this evening and, we hope, take them to the hospital to meet their new sib.

Election Day. Finally. Sandra and I will vote this morning on our way to work. I recently learned that the New Hampshire towns of Hart's Location and Dixville Notch started the tradition of voting at midnight because so many of the people in those small towns work for the railroad and wouldn't be able to vote during normal hours. Those two towns typically vote Republican. This year is no different.

Our seventh grandchild is due tomorrow. Lynn will go to the hospital in the early morning. We'll feed the other kids in the evening and then go to the hospital to meet the new little one.

Over the weekend a friend gave me a pound of Roaster Boy coffee. It's a rich and smooth blend, strong enough to rally the troops at the start of the day.

Morning frost is routine now. The weekend forecast suggests that we may see a bit of snow. Our snow blower still needs a tune-up.

At work I'm handing off old assignments so that I can work full-time on my new project. I have a meeting this morning with another writer to discuss the transfer. After that I will try to find a conference room with a big white board where I can sketch out my ideas. It's a time of creative thrashing.

Sandra gave me a mirror so that I can see behind me as people come into my office. I've read that mirrors are the aspirin of feng shui.

"I should have listened to my mother."

"About what?"

"I don't know. That's why I should have listened."

In font sizes typically reserved for moon landings, the newspapers proclaim the good news. The Boston Red Sox won the World Series. At quarter-to-midnight the neighborhood kids were outside, yelling for joy.

You can bet that this will be a tired day at the office and a distracted one. We'll be ok. We're happy.

From the world of weird science comes a story about hypoallergenic cats. The scientists use RNA interference to inhibit the gene in cats that produces the allergens. Here's the press release: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041026/phtu021_1.html. At the company's home web site, http://www.allerca.com/, you can find out more and even place your reservation.

Great joy is held back by a thick dam of trepidation. The Red Sox are 3-0 in the World Series, winning last night 4-1.

Our edition of the Boston Globe has to go to press before the games are complete, so the front page and sports sections carry incomplete reports, through about the fourth inning.

One of the most ambitious and interesting projects on the net is Project Gutenberg - http://www.gutenberg.net/. There's more aboout its history and philosophy here -http://www.gutenberg.net/about/history - but, in brief, they are making public domain books available in electronic form. They also have audio books read by a speech synthesizer. I have to admit that it takes a bit to get used to the voice.

This morning, under a waxing gibbous Hunter's Moon, we have a thick frost.

Starting with AltaVista nearly 10 years ago and continuing with Google a few years later, search engines have become my standard method for locating information. At one time I might use a dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, and technical manuals. Now, it's generally a whole lot easier just to check Google. (There are some other search engines that I'll check occasionally, such as AltaVista, Yahoo, A9, and Clusty, but Google is still the best.)

The other day, for example, I was working on a script (a small program) that would help us automate some repetitive tasks. I needed some examples to help me with a certain problem. Rather than tracking down a manual or even reading the online help, I found easier, faster, and better to search the web using Google. I had my answer in seconds.

Of course, a search engine is only as good as the information that's out there. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find something that, I finally concluded, just didn't exist. (Anyone know how to select and copy the text in a Java applet?)

Search is also only as good as the question you pose. If I need to look up common words, such as select text, I can be overwhelmed with a large number of irrelevant results. For example, among the results of a search for "select text java applet" is a link to a page that describes binomial probability histogram. There are people who care what that means, but I'm not among them.

But, the Red Sox are still playing baseball this late in October. It will be interesting to see which Pedro shows up tonight.

We've been fired. During a phone yesterday afternoon, my father indicated that he no longer needs our help around his house. We'll take it as good news. We'll still stop by from time to time.

There's a baby shower for Lynn today. Many of the men will gather at Mike's house for the duration. I'm going to go to the camp and work on closing up the place for the season. We bring much of the food home, anything that can freeze or which would be too tempting for the mousies.

Game 1, 11-9. A game like this might be called winning ugly, playing just well enough to overcome mistakes and miscues. Unlike some other sports, baseball isn't scored with style points, just runners who cross home plate.

The game got over after 11:00, so the scores didn't make it into the Sunday papers. Bill Lee used to deliver those wonderful two-and-a-half-hour, 75-pitch games.

My manager confirmed yesterday that I'd be taking on the new assignment that I'd mentioned the other day. (For those who care about such things, I'll be rearchitecting an information set on multiprotocol authentication and authorization.) I will spend the next couple of days getting my current projects to good stopping places.

We went to a nice party for Matthew last night - takeout Chinese food and an ice cream cake. Starting a couple of years ago, Mike added a second story to their house. The kids moved into their new room at the start of the school year. One of Matt's gifts was a new desk for his room.

We watched a bit of the St. Louis-Houston game, scouting our new opponents. The Red Sox and Cardinals have some history going back to 1946, so the matchup is good.

It must be confusing for the people who plan advertisements that will run during the playoffs and World Series. Because they're dealing with different age groups, we get ads for acne cream to AFLAC, video games to Viagra.

The World Series games will be played at night. Interestingly, the weekend games are scheduled to start a half hour earlier than the weekday games. The later start on weekdays gives the west coast folks a chance to get home and watch the game. The communist government in China has a way of dealing with time zones; they don't allow them. With a country wider than the US, they have one time zone, UTC+8. They don't even bother with daylight savings time.

Bleary-eyed and happy, New Englanders awaken to find that it's still true, that we really did beat the Yankees in the 7th game and that we're going to the World Series. It will be a fun winter as we analyze the decisions and performances that got us this far.

The newspapers are late this morning, no doubt delayed by the ball that finished after midnight.

Today is grandson Matthew's 13th birthday. He's a superb athlete, very funny, and not a little bit fresh. He doesn't know this yet, but we're taking him to see Blue Man Group as his birthday gift.

In the past couple of days, friends have sent me pointers to job prospects. I've followed up and have had one rejection already.

There are lots of tired, but happy folks around the office these days. The Red Sox, with their mix of superstars and Joe Bag-of-Donuts players, have captivated even the most casual fan. Even when one of the stars stumbles, someone else will find enough talent and strength to keep the team in the game.

Now if only they could do something about these late night games. When I was a boy (oh, geez), the World Series games were played in the afternoon. A friend had the first color TV of anyone we knew. The kids in the neighborhood would gather at Ron's home (a trailer on top of a small hill) to watch the games after school.

Sandra, her father, and her siblings will go to her aunt's funeral in New Hampshire. Sandra's brother's wife will stay with MRM and daughter-in-law Lynn will visit mid-day. We observed that we now have just one aunt remaining, my mother's sister.

I may be picking up an interesting, but gnarly project at work. Yesterday I reviewed the state of my work so that I could hand off my current projects in order to take on this new one. I should hear more next week.

I've been listening to news on NPR during my (much shorter) commute. Last week Sandra passed along a recorded book that she'd found to be very funny - Carl Reiner's My Anecdotal Life. Indeed, Reiner is a very funny guy. See http://tinyurl.com/674yx for more info.

This weekend is notable as much for what didn't happen as what did.

Daughter-in-law Lynn is having a baby, due in early November. On Friday the baby started to give signs that it was on its way early. Mike and Lynn went to the hospital on Friday evening, but returned home later in the night, the baby deciding that the time is not yet.

The other thing that didn't happen was that the Red Sox weren't swept by the Yankees. After Saturday night's football-score loss, the mood was grim. They may not always win, but they never seem to give up.

Over the weekend, Sandra called son Mike:

"Hello, this is Michael."

"Hi, Mike. This is Mom. How are things going?"

"Buppy, this is your grandson."

So, our teenaged grandson's voice now sounds like his father's.

The house still smells a bit of the New England boiled dinner that we made on Saturday. Some parts were over-cooked, some under-, but it was tasty overall. We brought a plate to my father yesterday. The remaining leftovers are on their way to becoming hash.

Sandra's mother continues to improve. She walks around the yard and occasionally up the street.

My father is getting better as well. We still stop by to help with the cleaning and firewood, but he's able to do lots of other things. Last week he took the plow off the Jeep so he could bring the Jeep into the garage and work on it.

The winter lockdown continues. We turned off the water at the camp yesterday. At home, the wood is ready for the cool weather. We have a rack outside the back door that holds a face cord (4x1.5x8) that we'll cover with a tarp and keep at the ready. We'll get some more wood for late winter and early spring.

It's very easy to from house to car to work and back again, barely feeling the outside world. Stacking and carrying wood brings me into the outside world.

Yankees are up, two games to none. The friendly confines of Fenway will heal and energize this team.

We switched from the ball game to watch the debate last night. Acrimonious bickering between a couple of white guys from Yale is easier on the mind and soul than the Red Sox in October.

Here's something to agitate the tin-foil hat crowd (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinfoil_hat): the FDA has approved implantation of a chip that will assist medical personnel in retrieving a patient's medical records. The chip doesn't contain medical information, but does uniquely identify the individual and allow the medical staff to retrieve medical records from a database. Its initial application will be for patients who cannot communicate, such as Alzheimer's patients. It's interesting from this corner because MRM had to provide her medical history repeatedly for each medical crew that was providing care to her. It would have been nice for all to have access to the same information. There are serious privacy issues, to be sure. The risks of providing incorrect or incomplete information from memory are also great.

This week marks three months at this new job. The projects are interesting and the people remain nice. The pace of the work has picked up. I still don't focus as well as I'd like, but I'm getting along.

Sandra's aunt, Marie, died yesterday in Florida. Her family is arranging for services in New Hampshire. Marie was Sandra's father's sister. Woody and Marian each observed yesterday that they are each the last of their siblings.

Yankees 10, Red Sox 7. 'Nuff said.

We've passed another milestone on the way to wherever. This weekend, I requested services for us from AARP. I've been a member for a while and have read their publications, but this is a first. As Mel Brooks observed, we mock the thing we are to become.

The 'rents continue to improve. MRM was able to climb the stairs to the second floor on Sunday. The physical therapist came to the house over the weekend and will return tomorrow. The goal is to increase the walking distance, first around the yard and then around the neighborhood. The doctor prescribed a gadget that's supposed to strengthen the bones. Marian is handling all of this attention and hullabaloo with grace and good humor.

Huck went grocery shopping on his own last Monday, the first time in a couple of months. He got his Jeep back from the repair shop and is tickled with the quality of the work on the steering and plow hydraulics. He arranged to have a new top made for the Jeep. The plow is hitched up and he's ready for winter.

We visited with Adam, Jennie, and Lily on Saturday. They've remodeled their kitchen and it looks wonderful. They're a fun family. They were very happy.

Lynn will have her baby during the first week of November. The excitement now centers on names for the baby. We don't know if it will be a boy or a girl.

Yesterday was a holiday for which, as a contractor, I didn't get paid. There are a missing benefits, such as paid holidays, vacation time, insurances, and 401-Ks, that are starting to become more significant. I am grateful that the checks clear. It may be time, however, to start looking again for a permanent position (as permanent as anything can be).

The Red Sox and Yankees start their playoff series tonight. The Red Sox have the edge in pitching. Both teams can put up a lot of runs at any time. It's going to be fun.

Sandra's mother returned home early yesterday afternoon and is doing quite well. She's been able to navigate the house and back deck well. Sandra's sister and brother will come up from the Cape this weekend. There are still a few items to clarify with the doctors, but those things can wait until Tuesday. (It's Columbus Day weekend here, Thankgiving in Canada.)

These long weekends are good because they give us a chance to rest and restore ourselves. They can also be frustrating because there are things that we want and need to do that have to wait until we get back to the work week. And while we're waiting, the anxiety can build. There's a saying along the lines of accept the things I cannot change ....

As the Brits would call it, the weather today is dull, low clouds with a chance of showers or drizzle. We'll take a ride to see Adam, Jennie, and Lily today. We weren't able to attend her birthday party last week and missed having a chance to talk with them. Sandra and I will also enjoy the ride. The fall foliage is coming along nicely.

The second of the presidential debates took place last night. The rancor from both sides is wearying. I know who has my vote, but I wish both candidates would behave more like presidents and less like trash-talking basketball players.

Ah the sweetness of a Red Sox victory. They'll get a few days of needed rest before continuing their quest.

Marian will be coming home tomorrow afternoon. We'll all be learning things as she adjusts to these once familiar and now new surroundings. Their apartment wasn't really designed for someone with limited mobility, so we'll have to improvise, but carefully.

As I've mentioned before, when we are in need of health care, our lives are much more open to many more people. We've had conversations with MRM's doctors, nurses, physical therapists, case workers, and others. I guess that it's true anytime that you need help, but it seems more so in times of medical need. Pregnant women experience this a lot. We are familiar with more intimate details than we have any right to know because child-bearing is such a public event. When we are caring for our parents, we wind up talking about things that may be new areas of discussion. This has been true for me as well. Recently I talked candidly with daughter-in-law Jennie, a physcian's assistant, about my current roster of medications, their benefits, and their side effects. It's good that we can trust those close to us because it lets them help us and love us better.

A killing frost came during the overnight. Marley went into the back yard after breakfast and was eager to get back in to lie in front of the wood stove. The yard was pretty with the white coating on all exposed surfaces.

MRM continues to make good progress. Yesterday, during physical therapy, she was able to climb a few stairs. We're expecting that she can come home by week's end. She'll need assistance around the house, particularly during the first few days. She's been a great patient, eager to participate in her recovery process.

Work has turned into an interesting mix of projects, some short-term assignments and working toward goals that are over the horizon. Each day I learn or relearn something.

The Red Sox won their first playoff game and the Yankees lost. There's still a long way to go, but dare we dream?

Marian moved from the hospital to a rehabilitation facility at the end of the week. She's making remarkable progress. She starts her physical therapy today and there's a good chance that she'll be coming home by the end of the week.

As noted earlier, the state of medical care these days requires a patient advocate. Often the information that we receive from the medical staff is confusing, contradictory, and even wrong. On the day after surgery, one physician's assistant told MRM that she might be going home today. Another doctor said the same thing when she arrived at the rehabilitation hospital. The nurses and physical therapists had the good sense to know that that was crazy talk. Sandra's mother is eager to come home, but knows that she needs to be ready.

This week will be a challenge for Sandra, returning to work and keeping track of things from afar. It's difficult to have personal conversations on the phone while working in a cubicle. Most of the time, I use my cell phone and try to find an unused conference room when talking with my doctors or my father's doctors.

Sandra's aunt had a heart attack over the weekend. The prognosis, filtered through phone calls from and to Florida, is not clear. It's an odd season, this.

The Red Sox face the Anaheim Angels tomorrow afternoon in the divisional playoffs. It's good to have the Red Sox playing baseball in October.

It's been a long few days for Sandra and her father, and her mother, of course. There's lots to learn about hospital stays and medical treatment and all that. Sandra arrived at the hospital yesterday afternoon and found her mother quite uncomfortable, Sandra found a nurse and learned that, although the meds were prescribed for every three hours, Sandra's mother had to ask for them. The day shift nursing staff was quite disengaged while the evening shift has been terrific. We've had good coaching from daughter-in-law Jennie, a physician's assistant. There's lots to learn and just when you've figured something out, it's time to learn something new.

Yesterday was the birthday of Adam and Jennie's daughter, Lily. She's five.

With this new work schedule, I have time to read a newspaper in the morning. I get most of my news during the day from Internet news sites and then on the radio during my commute. The paper carries smaller stories that I might not otherwise see. Also, the comics are better.

I left work a bit early yesterday so that I could get home, let the dogs out, and then go to the hospital. I brought my laptop home so that I could check email and work on a few things. In my previous job, I'd bring my laptop home every night. Now, it's a couple of times a month.

MRM's surgery went well. As Sandra observed, it was a long day but a good day. The operation took nearly four hours. When we left the hospital last night, she was tired, but comfortable.

The last of the rains from Hurricane Jeanne will leave us this morning, followed by fine weather for several days. That's the way September has been: delightful weather punctuated by downpours. The rain is cold. We've entered the season that requires a fire in the wood stove every morning.

The pace at work has picked up considerablyl. In addition to the long assignments, due in late October or late December, I have a number of hurry-up short-term tasks. This morning I'll take time to review my notes and make sure that I haven't overlooked anything. Even though we have good computer-based scheduling, email, and planning tools, I still use paper to track my daily to-do items.

Sandra's mother is scheduled for surgery this morning. She'll report to the hospital at 10:30. The operation should take a couple of hours. She's eager and anxious and accepting, all at the same time. Sandra and her father will spend the day at the hospital; I'll join them later this afternoon.

My father is doing better. He was able to stack wood for a short while during our visit on Sunday. Trips to the grocery store are a bit much, but he is still thinking about getting his Jeep ready for plowing this winter.

We took the MacGregors' dog, Molly, with us to the camp this weekend. She's a yellow Lab, one year old. Her bounding and boundless energy is good for Marley, although he was quite tired by Sunday morning.

With the weather cooling, the woodland creatures are making ready for winter. We're finding acorns tucked away on various shelves, in corners, and in other seemingly impossible places. At the camp they gather acorns. At home they steal bird seed from the feeders.

A 200F degree sauna followed by a jump into the bracing water is good for what ails you, body and soul.

The return to work this week brought me into my first long traffic jam in quite a while. A car fire had traffic backed up for a couple of miles and it took nearly 45 minutes to travel that short distance. Traffic jams bring out the goofiness of my fellow travelers.

Work itself is ok. I'm still having some trouble focusing, but I am making progress on my assignments.

This week marks six months since I left IBM. As with most anniversaries, it feels like both a short time and a long time. How have I changed? Well, certainly the pace of work has slowed considerably. My work days are shorter, allowing me to be home by 5PM most days. I've had to reacquaint myself with hands-on skills, both technical and writing, and am almost ready to call myself competent. Last week I participated in a project where I really knew my stuff and it felt good.

And what of the rest of my day? It appears that I've become more insular. Sure, this journal has allowed me to stay in touch with family and close friends. Son Adam observed that he didn't have many questions to ask me on the phone because the weblog has provided the news already. But my focus is on life at home (or the camp). Caring for our parents is something new and has been a good adventure, even with the challenges of changing roles. At the end of the day, though, I'm eager to get home and stay home. The time will come when I and we get out to see more people, but not now, not yet.

Hurricane Karl forgot to ask directions and may be in Iceland by early next week.

Sandra's mother's doctor had a scheduling problem yesterday, including an operation on a patient with a brain aneurysm. As a result, he wasn't able to perform the back operation. She waited the day, not permitted to eat. All revved up and no place to go. Finally, about 4PM they spoke with the doctor and rescheduled the operation for next Tuesday.

Sandra will return to work today and plan to take next week off.

Today marks the end of summer. In spite of the warm waters in the south breeding a ferocious hurricane season, it's been cool here in New England. We needed the air conditioner for just a few evenings in May. Hurricane Karl is drifting northward, a menace to none but ships at sea.

Yesterday was the fourth anniversary of my mother's death. We observed it in quiet moments, as we do every day.

Today is the first day of Sandra's mother's journey to recovery. She'll have her operation this afternoon. She will be in the hospital for a few days and then a rehabilitation hospital for a few more before coming home. The surgeon expects a full recovery with no limitations.

Sandra is taking the rest of the week off from work and will be at the hospital most of the time. She's bringing a quilt that she's sewing for our next grandchild, due in November. There's a couch in the waiting area when her father can rest during the visits. I'll come home after work, tend to the dogs, and then go the hospital in the evening.

This journal was off the air for most of yesterday. Our internet service provider keeps its servers in Baltimore. Yesterday morning, a big fire knocked out power for a large area, including the building where the servers are housed. The systems came back on the air in the evening and all appears to be in good order.

We had a rainy weekend and stayed home from the camp. On Saturday morning, a thunderstorm rumbled through, scaring the dog. He came upstairs and slept under the bed.

My father is doing better. He was able to do his own shopping last week, although he had to stop and rest several times. We visited with him on Sunday and made sure that he had a good supply of firewood.

The Red Sox have fallen into a September swoon with their pitching becoming seriously unreliable. They should make it to the playoffs, but won't last long playing like this.

Oh, yes, work. This is a journal about work. Yesterday all of my project plans were approved with just some minor requests for schedule clarifications. The next major deadline is not until November, but there's plenty of work between now and then.

After a very long wait (nearly three hours!), Sandra's parents, her sibilings, and sundry spouses met with the surgeon who will perform MRM's back surgery next week. It was a successful meeting, in that all questions were answered and the family felt that it was a team coming together for an important purpose. Everyone came back to the house for pizza afterwards.

My work days are starting to fill up with meetings, both regularly scheduled and ad hoc. Some meetings are more organized than others. Most tend to start late, but end on time, and are rarely longer than an hour.

It still seems like a luxury to be working just 40 hours per week.

I've done nothing to personalize my cubicle. I brought in a couple of reference books, but have added no pictures or other personal items. My desk, for those who've seen my offices in the past, is uncharacteristically tidy. As is typical these days, my work stuff is on a laptop, so I can be as productive in a conference room or at home as I am in the office.

My contract will be extended another three months, providing me with continued employment into the new year. This news, combined with a couple of new and interesting projects, have made this a better week at work. Vacation was nice and re-entry was a bit of a jolt, but the work so far has been good.

This afternoon, Sandra will go with her parents to meet with the doctors who will perform her mother's surgery next week. After those meetings, there will be a family meeting with the surgeon, Sandra's parents and siblings, and sundry spouses. The family meeting will give folks a chance to learn about the procedure and recovery and to ask their own questions in their own words. Everyone is in a helpful and hopeful spirit.

On Saturday morning, we took an hour-and-a-half canoe ride around the lake. The sky was clear and the air was fresh. A few people were outside, working on their camps. We saw just one other boat on the lake. It was a fine example of why we take our vacation in September.

We had a good time, a very good time. We did things and didn't do things. We worked, finishing a few of the season's projects, and then were quiet, particularly during the rainy days mid-week. I'm reading Khrushchev by William Taubman, a professor of Russian history at my alma mater. Sandra's reading Naked in Baghdad by NPR's Anne Garrels. We also watched tv, not all of it bad. It took some adjustment to get used to not having access to the 24-hour news channels. We stayed up late to catch the 11:00 news and even saw David Letterman a couple of times. We didn't get to play cribbage and found the jigsaw puzzle not to our liking. We enjoyed each other's company and needed that quiet time together.

My father can't climb the stairs to the camp these days, so we set up chairs at the water's edge by the boat house and had our coffee break there. We're making plans to build a road up to the camp.

When we thought of work, which wasn't too often, it made us anxious. Both of us are returning to projects that are overdue. I'll go in a bit early this morning to spend extra time on the week's emails. There's never a good time to take a vacation. It's also good to learn that we're important, but not that important.

Sandra's parents have returned from PEI. Sandra's mother will have back surgery next week. Sandra and her siblings will meet with her parents and the surgeon on Wednesday to talk about the procedure and the recovery.

It's also time for me to start thinking about what's ahead for my employment. I'm two months into a three-month contract. There's a very good chance that the contract will be extended, but I can't assume anything. There are a few opportunities in the queue. Mostly, though, I will re-establish contact with friends and former co-workers to let them know that I'm looking again.

It's going to be a busy time. By late morning, vacation will be a distant, though wonderful, memory.

A co-worker stopped by my cubicle yesterday and asked me what kind of dog I had. I told her that we had a black Lab. She said that she saw the nose prints on the back window of my car.

Sandra and grandson Joe are visiting PEI for a few days. Woody is planning to take Joe fishing today. They'll have lobster for supper. Each grandchild gets a flight to the Island as a 10th birthday gift. I drove them to the airport yesterday morning and will pick them up on Sunday.

So Marley and I will pack up this afternoon and, after a brief visit with my father, will go to the camp for a couple of days. Then, Sandra and I will take our vacation at the camp for the week. It's a good, quiet week to be there. We'll tour the lake by canoe and maybe walk around the lake on the shore. We have some work to do. There's always work. The weather forecast calls for rainy weather mid-week, giving us a chance to be quiet as well. We'll play cribbage, work on a jigsaw puzzle, and read.

This will also give me a chance to think about what's ahead for me and my work. I'm nearly two-thirds of the way through my contract. It's quite likely that the contract will be extended, but I need to be prepared in the case that it isn't. I've done very little job hunting this summer. If I'm going to be looking for work, I'll need to start as soon as we return from our break.

Vacations can often bring a renewed energy and focus, a chance to remind ourselves of our priorities. It takes the same amount of energy to work at trivialities or at important stuff, but the result is oh, so different.

It's time for a mid-morning coffee break. I decided to work at home today. It gives me a chance to tend to a few things around the house. For example, I finally had the time to update this computer to the latest Windows service pack. It's not very exciting, but there are times when we need to take of the ordinary things, making the extraordinary possible.

I reviewed a package of information from the senior center in the town where my father lives. There are many good services and activities, but nothing that he needs right now. Sandra and I will continue to stop in regularly and help with his household chores and shopping.

As we've been paying more attention to our parents' health and well-being, it's helped us appreciate what other people are dealing with as well. We hear about others' surgery, chemotheraphy, and chronic pain and have a greater appreciation for how it affects the whole family. It's an adventure, worrisome at times, fun at others.

Another big hurricane, Frances, is heading for Florida and the southeast US. The current predictions don't call for a serious threat to New England, but we may get some heavy rain early next week. Between now and then, we will have a fine stretch of late summer weather. I've left the back door open so that Marley can go out to the sunny back deck whenever he wants to.

We had a wonderful weekend in Boston. We arrived mid-morning, walked from our hotel along the Freedom Trailto the North End where we had lunch. We then took the T to Fenway for a tour of the park. We had a nice walk back to the hotel for a shower and then a a return trip on the T to the ball park for the evening's game. We had a Cuban sandwich at Luis Tiant's sandwich stand and got autographs from El Tiante. (Back in 1975, he commented about the Red Sox fans, "They make me do better than I can do.")

We had good seats, in the grandstand behind home plate. Pedro pitched and the Red Sox won the game 5-1. The crowd was standing-room only. Most of the people were well-behaved, but beer was in the air. It was also interesting that the crowd was so overwhelmingly white.

On Sunday morning, we stayed in the hotel and read the papers over breakfast and coffee.

Sandra and I don't get to the city much. This was the first game at Fenway that we'd been to in more than 10 years, the first time we'd walked the Freedom Trail. It takes less than an hour to get to downtown. We have our habits. Some years ago, we visited with my uncle, Aimo, and aunt, Catherine. We wanted to take them out to dinner. "Why should we go out to eat? We have plenty of food here," they said. We made gentle fun of them at the time, but are now becoming more like them. Why should we go someplace different when the familiar places work so well? Mel Brooks observered that we mock the thing we are to become.

This week I have several chores at work to complete in anticipation of next week's vacation. I wasn't as productive last week as I'd hoped, but I should be ok. I need to talk with a couple of people this morning to confirm that I'm on the right track.