The One With The Deep Sighs

Whew.... It's done. For Now. The semester from hell that is. Going back to school full-time after having been out for 2+ years, and coming to a new country at that and a University that prides itself of being Harvard North...well let's just say it has been a bit daunting. I just got home from finishing my last exam and my head is filled with goo. Not just regular goo, mind you, but the sort of thick gelatinous goo normally found when opening a canned ham. This is what happens when your brain is turned to mush by evil professors, mind-numbing books on critical theory, and a steady diet of soda pop and Pez!! I found out quite a bit about myself this semester, chiefly that I'm a miserable old bas...well you know where I'm going there. I'm hoping that the next semester I will be all sweetness and light (at least I know my wife hopes that). So I apologize to those that found themselves in my crosshairs and if I was rude, indifferent, impatient, mean, cranky, or sleepy toward you, at you or near you...just chalk it up to the evil Ron that I've since killed and buried behind the shed in the backyard. I'm even trying to find some Christmas spirit in this old 4 sizes too small Grinch heart of mine. That is made much easier because we have snow now (and if the weather man, who my mother-in-law calls "lyin' Dave" is to be believed there's lots more on the way tonight). Our neighborhood takes on a very surreal feeling at Christmas. Sure there's the occasional Griswold-ian light display where someone turns their 4 bedroom bungalow into Circus Circus...but not as much as in other neighborhoods I've lived in. Yet, there's this really bizarre corner (at the very end of our street) as we make our way to the train station. These two houses are either side of the street have this gigantic inflatable snowmen (snowpersons?) families that stand guard. There they are at night like packs of luminescent 'Crips and Bloods' preparing for a rumble. In the morning as you drive by you notice they are deflated, lying on the ground. I keep expecting to walk by and see several snowman shaped chalk body outlines on the grass but there they are each evening full of hot air, brooms at the ready, button noses all...buttony. I've been really under the weather the last few days. I got a nasty flu/cold (there's a dispute in the house as to which I had so I'm claiming both for recording purposes) and I had to summon up all my energy to attend my wife's studio's Xmas party this weekend. She looked stunning as usual (several people remarked to me that it must be nice being married to a movie star) and of course I looked like I just crawled out of bed, or a rehab facility, which with the level of medicine I was taking at that point both would have been accurate. It was fun though...with the possibly exception of the worst version of "I've Had The Time Of My Life" that I've ever heard karaoke'd before (and I've heard the original!!!) but I suspect considering the two guys who sang it...that was the point. So now that school is out for the next few weeks I'm going to pick up some extra hours in the ice cream mines. Now for the photo moment, a part that some few really enjoy (mostly Tara because she loves Dixie!!) Here's are big girl sitting on mommy's lap with the look of "I have such a hard life"
Here's one with both of the girls, including a shot of Dixie's radioactively huge tongue (which she enjoys slathering on your face when you don't wake up when she wants you to play with her):
And for those of you trapped in a world where "snow" is just the last name of the Treasury Secretary here's two shots of the backyard with about an inch or two on the ground...our little winter wonderland:
This one has a cool 3-D effect almost:
Oh and if I wasn't already miserable that I can't be in Tempe New Year's Day for Utah's Fiesta Bowl game...now word comes that the Grand Marshall of the Fiesta Bowl Parade is Jennie Finch *le sigh* Now if I thought I had even a remote shot at someone somewhere buying me tickets and airfare to the game, it is all gone because my wife won't let me within 100 miles of Jennie Finch (I'm actually not certain whether I'm even allowed to say her name, so I could be in biiiig trouble already!). Anyway, I'll be home New Year's Day watching my beloved Utes try to remain unbeaten and crush Pitt.

Go Utes!!! Until next time...Merry Christmas Everyone