blowing in the wind

Chilling in front of a fire at 1:30 PM on a Thursday. This is odd.

Our one-year warranty is just about up on our condo and we're having a couple of sub-contractors come out to fix minor things. Unfortunately, you have to be home for a four-hour block of time before they'll commit to showing up. Fortunately, this allows me to take a half-day and have a completely useless afternoon for a change. I'm watching a few episodes of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Being a big Aaron Sorkin fan and thinking that some of the writing on The West Wing is some of the best ever on television, I'm still a bit perplexed as to why this show got cancelled after one season. It could be because there was a slip in ratings, but if shows like The Ghost Whisperer make it to multiple seasons, I'm thinking S60's demise has more to do with it being a critique on network television rather than a handful of viewers not tuning in...call me crazy.

Doorbell's ringing...water-heater dude is here.

That was quick. Turns out the corrosion on the plumbing pipes is because the pipes are galvanized, but the threading on the pipes is not. Just rub some vegetable oil on there once every six months and you're golden.

In other news, I'm finally starting the job next week that I've been interviewing for and waiting on for the last six weeks. I'm leaving the credit union gig to work for a renewable energy company that builds wind-farms. Very green and Oregonian. But as Brent like's to say: "I didn't sell out, I bought in." They actually got bought by a Spanish firm about nine months ago, and my paperwork took so long to get processed in Spain because they apparently take about the whole month of December off. I think I'm going to like this job...

Doorbell's ringing again...I'm signing off!

My baby is famous!

Though she would totally kill me if she knew I was blogging about this, Katie got some press yesterday in the Woodburn Independent (the newspaper for the town south of Portland in which she teaches). She answered a few questions from a reporter a couple of weeks ago and thought there might be a buried blurb about her most recent show at somepoint, but she walked into the teacher's lounge yesterday to find copies strewn about, revealing a half-page spread on the cover of the education section. My wife's a celebrity!

Pretty stinking cool...check out the online article.

I've been flying solo for a couple days- finishing up my christmas break. Michael's been in Texas visiting his family. (They took the above, obviously apple distorted, picture the last time they were here. But Mike did get to spend time with them, and his mom, dad and bro.

It's hard living away from family at holidays, although now we have some family up here. That's been a nice addition.

I am starting school Monday. We had an inservice on Friday, spending the entire day in meetings. Waking up to a full day of meetings is a harsh reality from my 2 weeks of sleeping til 9. But Mike comes back tonight- thats fun!

For Christmas, we spent the day at my mom's house with liz/matt, dan, and mere. Then for New Years we spent it having a sleepover with our old roomies, Chris and Karli and Ania. Staying up late watching old Austin City Limit episodes with our favorite bands was a great way to ring in the new year.

Things new for us this year? Not much. Mike is still in grad school, but got a new job. I am still teaching at WACA- love it! Same old, same old. We did just wrap up 5 years of marriage- can you believe that?

Sorry for the random thoughts. Have a good weekend!

Katie