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.