Well, we're almost to 2004, or as I like to call it: "2 oh 4".

But before pontificating about what lies ahead, I should write about my celebration of the birth of Christ. We have a family tradition of opening one present on Christmas Eve and then opening the rest on Christmas Day. I think this tradition was established early in our family as a compromise. I imagine my siblings and I were pretty excited to open our presents and my parents were tired of our persistent but polite requests to open them early.

US: "Dearest parents, may we have the pleasure of opening our gifts today? It is awfully close to Christmas."
THEM: "Young children, who we love so much, we understand your desire to open your presents today, but in order to honor the occasion for which we are celebrating, it is best if we wait for the 'morrow."
US: "Dearest parents, we respectfully hear your reasoning, but we must take issue with a small error in your logic. You see, the birth of the Savior took place in Bethlehem, a small town in the region of Israel. That nation, which has fought for generations against those who would oppress it, is located in the Middle East, which is at least twelve time-zones ahead of this lovely community of Coldfoot, Alaska, where we happily reside now. With that in mind, it is currently Christmas day in war-torn Israel and our bountiful gifts are anxiously awaiting their liberation from the confines of blister packages and styrofoam peanuts."
THEM: "Oh sons of great wisdom and articulation, you propose an ironclad argument. We, in turn, propose a compromise: Why don't we each open one of the beautifully presented gifts on the Eve of Christmas, and then we can take part in a larger festival of presents on the 'morrow?"
US: "Your sound offer is graciously accepted."

Of course, the discussion would have taken place by the fireplace during evening tea. Snow would have been falling outside and a nice classical movement in D would have been playing from the Hi-Fi stereo cassette player.

Anyway, in the early days, the Open-One-Early plan was great, because it was usually something to occupy our attention until bedtime, like an action figure or micromachines. Since we've grown up (well, mostly, anyway), the gifts are less toy-based and more home-based. My brother got me a very cool pair of Adidas Corduroy Campus shoes. Awesome gift! But it doesn't really occupy my evening like a new box of legos used to. Fortunately, there's still a kid in all of us. My other brother opened Rainbow Six 3 for XBox, which occupied the three of us until passing out at 2 a.m.

In addition to the shoes, I also got a nice table-top tripod for my digital camera, a 120G firewire hard drive, gift card, some very classy Scooby-Doo pajamas (some things never change), and financial help with purchasing a new laptop before next semester (check the archives for details about my current machine's troubles).

With Christmas now in the past, it's now time to start preparing for 2k4. First step: Goals and Resolutions.

The first principle I plan to follow for 2o4 is borrowed from my brother: Make It Happen. No matter what I get involved in this year, I need to realize that it's up to me to reach my goals. I need to take the steps in the right direction. I can't expect people to do things for me. There may not be an I in "team," but there is in win. This is not to say that I'll never need, want, or ask for help, just that I need to take control of my own destiny.

With that principle in mind, I have several other goals to complete:
- Read 1 (one) non-school related book each month (fiction or non-fiction)
- Get and remain effectively organized
- Work smarter, not longer hours
- Spend more time being social, less time at work
- Cook a decent meal three times a week
- Take control of financial situation

That pretty much takes care of it. If I can manage those things and apply Make It Happen to my life, I'll consider 2o4 a success.

Cheers!

The Penny Press Mini-Con was pretty successful this morning. Quite a few people showed up and everyone seemed to get some value from it. Mike and I started a couple new blogs, and I'm looking forward to getting started on those designs and finishing some others. We'll also be adding some of the information covered to the Young Ladies Illustrated Primer.

I haven't been able to get to sleep lately, so I've been working on various projects (not school work; that's reserved for daytime hours) including updating our family web site themerrills.com. It's not too much right now, but hopefully the rest of the family will start to get involved and keep it up to date. Right now the project is stable, and it's only 1 a.m. Time to get moving on some other project since I probably won't be going to bed for another three hours or so.

After reading G.I.Joe vs. Transformers (#5), I noticed this on the back cover:

It makes me wonder if Hasbro has a professional product line in addition to its consumer product line. Mmm... professional Transformers.

The two time and temperature signs I saw today said -40. Fahrenheight or Celsius, you ask? Both. -40 F = -40 C.