2004-12-30 - 4:34 p.m.
Last entry of the year.
I've discovered Internet radio at work. Found an alternative station out of Sydney called Triple J. Apparently it's part of the Australian Broadcast Company, but it makes US corporate radio sound really sucky. Imagine KDHX with pro DJs. I haven't heard a bad song yet.
The beer came out very tasty, and was well-received on all fronts. J was concerned that there might be some “why’d you give me beer, ya cheap so-and-so’s” from some people, but there wasn’t. Ours was not the only homemade gift in circulation, so it all worked out. The phone calls I got a couple days later raving about the stuff and asking for more were quite rewarding as well. The braggot turned out so well that I’m going to make another batch this weekend. It’ll be a lot cheaper now that I’ve got all the equipment and most of the ingredients. Just need some more malt syrup and yeast…
We made out pretty good in the swag department: lots of movies, a few kitchen gadgets, and more toys and clothes for the Professor. At one point, though, I took a good hard look at my Christmas list and said to myself, “Self, this is all stuff you want. There’s nothing here you really Need.” Mind you, I’m not about to return or sell my gifts and give them to charity. But next year, I may simply ask for donations to The Heifer Project or Smile Train rather than movies or CDs. (I’ll spare you a rant on how Christmas is debased by the whole gift-giving thing, now.)
It’s been quite a year all told. I’ve patched up things with Mom, gotten promoted, gotten serious about my health, learned to brew beer, driven to Denver and back, painted the kitchen and the Professor’s room (it’s pink, with a blue ceiling, very cute), gone to more little-kid parties than I ever thought I would (and enjoyed every minute), gotten a number of colds, runny noses, and one bad case of Coxsackie virus (aka hand, foot, and mouth disease; sucked donkeys, that did), successfully held a hands-free wrestler’s bridge for more than a minute, and just generally had a great time being a husband and father. Thank God for my wife, my daughter, and my family.
Happy New Year, everybody.
