Events

Happy New Year! Tonga is almost the west-most place on earth, at least by time zone, so they entered 2008 almost 4 hours ago. New Caledonia, New Zealand, Fiji, and most of Australia have also gotten to next year ahead of us. The Koreas, Japan and Singapore are up in 10 minutes. Updates throughout the day, or until someone makes me stop...

A priest, a rabbi, and a giraffe walk into a bar. Bartender says, "Is this some kind of joke?"

One week at overnight camp (Parker's day care provider also boards dogs, so he got to hang with his friends every day) has exhausted my dog. This is a common behavior in dogs, apparently. He was overjoyed to see me again in a way I've never seen in a human older than four, but as soon as we got home he climbed into his crate and passed out. (Actually he ate two entire bowls of kibble first.) Action shot:

Returning from the West Coast after staying up late (in a different time zone) every night got me off to a slow start this morning. I'm glad to report that Half Moon Bay still exists, San Francisco is still the second-coolest city on the continent (after Chicago, and only just the barest fraction of a point above New York), and it's still winter.

San Francisco

...a new president.

San Francisco

The good news is that 48 hours of above-freezing temperatures—with almost 18 hours at or above 8°C—melted just about all the snow and ice in Chicago. The bad news? A cold front moved in overnight and it's now -9°C with 57 km/h winds giving us a wind chill of -19°C. Chicago weather builds character.