The weekend of the 19th was both John's birthday and Amber's house warming. This presented something of a problem as I wanted to attend both. In the end I decided to take John out to dinner on the 18th and attend Amber's house warming on the 19th. Sara and I drove John around town to see a movie and then treated him to dinner at Red Lobster. Amber's house warming the following day was good if a little awkward. A small number of her friends, myself included, were vastly outnumbered by her family members. It felt somewhat like crashing a family reunion. None the less I was glad to see her again and visit her new home. I suppose this means that she will be in the area for a while.

Later last week we had something of a tripple date at the new Harry Potter flick. The couples were Paul & Carrie; Castor & Melissa; as well as the lovely Sara with no 'h' and myself. I was more or less pleased with the movie, although if you have not read the book you have little to no hope of following the plot of the movie.

The time crunch continues at work, but that is to be expected. Late Wednesday night I returned to A-town under cover of darkness. There I spent some quality time with the family and consumed copious amounts of turkey. Robin has painted her room quite red and is bowling at a frighteningly high level. As usual I helped my paternal grandparents set up their Christmas decorations. My maternal grandmother is concerned about losing her driving license when her vision test comes up in the near future.

On Friday I scurried up to Wilmette, IL to visit Sara's family. The lake effect snow did not manage to kill me on the way up and so I got to spend time with Sara, Katie, Jenny, Kathy, and both Charlies. I got to take in several new Chicagoland experiences. Kafein is an excellent coffee shop in Evanston, very similar to the Abbey in Castelton for those who's memories run that far back. I also attended D's birthday party at Exit , a very respectable punk bar (is that an oxymoron?).

Now I have returned safely to Lafayette. However, I am flying to D.C. for Arxan's board meeting at o'dark thirty tomorrow. I was out there this time last year for an interview with (nfr), but I never had a chance to see the mall or the museums. Hopefully I will be able to rectify that situation this time around.