Solomon's RoseAs you can probably guess, I’m back home safely. We were very fortunate on both of our travel days…we flew home the day after the blizzard in Denver, so there were delays all over the place. When we were leaving Madison, we heard an overhead page for a bus from Madison to Detroit. That’s a long bus ride. We landed in Gainesville about half an hour late, which is really not bad at all. Hell, half an hour late is largely par for the course flying into Gainesville, let alone flying in on such a busy day.
Emma and I spent Christmas eve and Christmas day with my folks. We had a nice smorgosbord-style dinner on Christmas eve, with very nice cheeses, sausages, and meatballs. We had pickled herring — apparently called ’sil’ — that my dad always has at Christmas. I’ve always found it repulsive, but this year I tried some. I was wrong. It’s pretty tasty. There’s probably a lesson there, eh?

Christmas day was warm and rainy, so we spent almost the entire day inside with my folks. I got some nice presents, including a new bed (well, Emma and I got a new bed) and a digital camera. The rose picture in the upper right corner of this post was taken with the camera, in fact. It’s a Nikon Coolpix P1, which is significantly more camera than I had before. I’m happy. It has lots of features that will take me months — at least — to explore. Okay, so admittedly it’s not the digital SLR I’d like to get someday, but it’s pretty nice.

Work is work. I’ve been gone for a week, so it’s nice to get back to the lab. The building is remarkably empty…I know it’s winter break and all, but I figured there’d be more people around. Whatever. I’ve only seen maybe two or three other grad students, and absolutely no faculty. I appreciate the quiet, but it’s just a little odd. I’m continuing to have encouraging data, so I feel pretty good about the path I’m on. Moving forward slowly is better than not moving at all.
Emma and I have three new residents at the house. As of Tuesday, we have three Plymouth Rock barred chickens living in a coop in our backyard! Woo! I’ve got a few pictures up on my Flickr page, with more to come later. They’re remarkably cute, actually. We’ve been spending a little time with them each morning and evening, trying to let them become accustomed to us. They’re friendly, but are (understandably) anxious about these two new big, pink monkeys who keep poking at them.

That’s probably enough for now. I’m tired and need to do a little work before I go crash. Type to you later.