Now

My family is all together for Christmas, which means I finally got to meet my neice just before she turned a year old. My sisters have come from far flung corners of America and the globe to be here. The blessing that this presents is not lost on me and I’m enjoying the time with them and my niece, watching her wonder and curiosity with everything.

We rode the open air Christmas train in nearby New Hill and took in the coolness of a sunny winter day (+Santa). My own kids can hardly be called kids any more. My youngest is now a teenager, with the insouciance that comes with that. He has his interests and riding a slow train to nowhere is not among them. He wants an upgraded graphics card for Christmas and asked if my sister’s boyfriend could install it for him. Since I used to install graphics cards as part of my job managing a Geek Squad location, I’m not sure how to feel about that. I’ve certainly helped him with a number of technical problems, though, so I can take comfort that he knows I’m not completely useless.

My oldest is now a junior in college and looking at law school. He would like to practice immigration law and is hoping his command of the Arabic language will help him in that department. We’re also grateful to have him home for the holidays, even though it does mean some adjustment as we just got rid of the bunk beds that he and his brother shared.

I’ve been doing some furniture trade-ups of my own, replacing the glass desk I’ve had for the last 25 years (long after that particular desk had gone out of fashion) with something to which I could add a shelf and mount a monitor arm. I’m trading down my expensive refubished Apple Studio Display for a BenQ monitor that people rave about so I can mount the monitor and use the built-in KVM switch to juggle between my home Mac Mini and my work Macbook Air. We’ll be working entirely remotely for the month of January as we transition to a new office (still on the campus of NC State). I’m tempted to do a little office tour write-up in the style of Maker Stations when everything is completely set.

For various reasons, mostly health and home related, I have not been to many church services recently, for which I feel a bit bad. It’s almost like a force is keeping me from going, which is a scary thought. Yesterday, I was planning on going to vespers when a rare nose bleed assaulted me just before my departure. Sure, it’s dry, so that’s a material explanation, but migraines and other things have also kept me away. This morning’s Divine Liturgy will mark the first time I’ve been in weeks. It pays to get there early, because otherwise you might not find a place to stand (yep, stand).

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Years (Rock the Eve). Please feel free to contact me. I’d love to hear what’s up.

Reading

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Hunting Magic Eels by Richard Beck