The rain falling outside makes me a bit nostalgic for Pittsburgh, much in the same way that having a cat sit on your lap reminds you of the 6 months you spent at that Toyko sumo wrestling academy. It's a good thing that it doesn't rain all that often here, because it seems that every time it does my DSL connection gets all freaky. I wish I could get a cable modem; every time I'm at Kim's house and use her high-speed connection I feel immense pangs of jealousy. The max download speed I can get here probably tops out around 30-40k/second, which was great back in the days of ISDN and 56k modems, but I'm having the proverbial sand of speedy connections kicked in my face by all you 98-pound weeklings with your "cable modems" and your "T3s".

Not all that much exciting to report. Last week was super-quiet and super-productive at work. I love that week between xmas and new years; I can put bullets in the heads of lots of bugs quickly.

Speaking of New Year's, it was a quiet affair this year. Just Kim and Eric came over for some wine and snackies. If Kim got a little toasted, then Eric got downright d-r-u-n-k, a fact that he continued to remind us of as the night progressed, as in "I don't have very good balance right now, Because I'm Drunk!", or, "I am probably going to sleep here, Because I'm Drunk!", or even "I'm going to tell you guys something I shouldn't tell you, Because I'm Drunk!". (Kim and I are planning to use that as a suffix to Chinese food fortune cookies from now on, replacing "in bed". "You will meet many friends in the new year, Because You're Drunk!")

Eric also "took some lovely photographs of us":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/?folder=20041231_eric that evening. Maybe lovely is not the word, because a lot of them were of nothing, or at least something very blurry. For awhile he was holding the camera to the side of his head and just taking random pictures of whatever he happened to be looking at at the time (which apparently was the "side of Kim's head":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/20041231_eric/DSCN0944.JPG for most of the night). I have "included all his pictures for posterity":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/?folder=20041231_eric, and perhaps to serve as a warning for everyone out there who wants to take pictures While They Are Drunk! I also "took a few pictures":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/?folder=20041231_matt while not nearly As Drunk!

After photo hour we went out and tried out the hot tub, which was much fun. They say that whatever you're doing new year's is what you'll be doing the rest of the year, so I guess I'll be drinking a little bit of wine and watching my fingers prune. There are worse things that could happen, I suppose.

My stepmother is in town this week (her sister lives just south of the city), and we have dinner plans for tomorrow night. Should be a lovely time.