Back to normal.

After the whirlwind of SF and NL, the past week in Dover felt pretty tame. I did some MIRL work while the ideas were still fresh in my mind but doing lab stuff alternated with organizing my room and unpacking some boxes that had been sitting in the kitchen since September. I was torn between taking advantage of the motivation I had coming off of AGU and finally having a livable room. That divide made for a few periods during which I felt like I wasn't accomplishing anything but today is Saturday and can look back on the week knowing that isn't true. I had a good meeting on Thursday with Marc during which we outlined the paper that will be the extension of the work I presented at AGU and I came out of that meeting with a good list of tasks to tackle. I'll start that on Monday. The kitchen is neater and my room certainly feels more comfortable; I'm glad I took that picture posted below to serve as a reminder of how it started.

Tonight is when I gather my friends for a group high-five in honor of my passage into the twenty-ninth year of my life. We will meet at the Barley Pub and will let it evolve from there so I hope everyone has recovered from whatever madness they cobbled together in the past two days.

Speaking of the past two days, Melisa and I had a nice New Year's Eve with some friends and acquaintances at my friend Jamie's house down the road. We ate snackies, talked to the dog, played music and did the count-down business. The crowd at Jamie's, having been notified that my birthday is on the 1st, sang Happy Birthday before Melisa and I left. We slept in a bit then watched "Burn After Reading," which is a cooky black comedy with John Malkovich, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, etc. and I highly suggest that you watch it. I also suggest that you sleep in. We met my parents for a fun lunch at the Brewery and my mom even brought a deeeeelish rich chocolate cake. Melisa and I went back to Dover to watch the "Prairie Home Companion" movie (I loved it, though she was not as tickled) and, en fin, went to La Festa to celebrate our friend Cole's birthday. It seems especially fortuitous that I postponed my birthday celebration for one day because we had a very nice time at Cole's get-together.

I ought to get salt and dirt for the steps and walkway. I am tempted to run errands in Newington (I have threatened to do that every day this week) but I am also tempted to sit on the couch and watch "Lord of the Rings." Come back next time to find out what I picked!