On Friday, I had a nice drive to work. In fact, since traffic was light, I had at least a half hour before I needed to be at work. As a bright yellow light on my dash indicated it was almost time to refuel, I decided to fill up before going in to work.

It was about seven thirty in the morning. I was not fully awake. I am standing at the pump with my eyes half closed when I hear a woman's voice. Some lady wanted to know if I wanted to read a pamphlet about Jehovah's Witness. I politely refused. I am not against religion; I just do not want to hear about when I am still half-asleep.

Even though I was on a business trip last week, with this week's holiday, it seems like I have been on vacation for weeks. It was nice going back to the office if a bit weird. I will have to re-train my body to get up earlier. Also, I will probably need to practice my driving. This morning, when I was backing out of the driveway, I knocked down eight out of ten lighted candy canes. At least Rachel will have fewer decorations to remove. The other drivers must have known I would be coming as many of them stayed home. It made for an easy commute.

Today is Christmas. Rachel and I spent a leisurely day at home. We talked to some relatives over the phone and spent the rest of the day watching movies and eating leftovers. Yesterday, we went to Rachel's mom house for dinner. So, this week so far has been a relaxing week. The previous week, on the other hand, was rather busy.

There was not a lot of snow on Friday. The drive home was so nice that I suggested that Rachel and I go out to dinner. We went to a place called Five & Diner. The place is based on a 50's style diner. The food was both wonderful and inexpensive. I had the Teriyaki Pineapple Burger and Rachel had the Bacon & Pepperjack Burger. We split a plate of Chili Cheese Fries. They had desserts too, but we were too full.

Yesterday was an interesting day. The roads were mostly clear. Two packages greeted me when I got home. The first package contained a SanDisk 4 GB Cruzer Micro with U3 thumb drive. I have a 512 MB thumb drive that I use for work. But, I wanted something a bit larger. Also, with the U3 technology, the thumb drive can autoplay. This means that I can have it run a syncing program when I insert it. I can also install applications to the drive and run them directly off the drive.

This morning we awoke to a few inches of snow. It was a good thing that we got our winter clothes yesterday. Rachel and I cleared off the driveway and the vehicles and went back inside. I showered, got breakfast, dressed, and headed back outside. It looked like we did not do anything. It was at this point that I realized that it was going to be a long commute today.

As the weather is getting colder and it is starting to snow, it is time to put on some warmer clothes. Unfortunately, in August we noticed that our winter clothes were covered with mold. Ugh. So, we had to pick up some new clothes today.

Yesterday, I helped Rachel make a "Twinkies pumpkin cake." The recipe sounded a bit weird, but any time I can open twenty Twinkies, I am not going to say no (especially when I get the extras). We let the case set overnight and had some this morning. It was good!

Tagline for today: "Sometimes I... No, I don't." - Steven Wright

Things have been fairly quiet for the past few weeks. I have been settling in at work (which I absolutely love BTW). I do not quite like getting up as early as I do. But, I am getting used to it. I am even starting to exercise again as my schedule is becoming more predictable.

As I am reaching the midpoint of my school term, I am starting to prepare for my midterms. Fortunately, my schedule has settled down a bit. And, as I have been spending my lunch hour studying, I am finding that I am getting my homework done a lot quicker. In addition, spending five one-hour sessions is better than one five-hour session.

Tagline for today: "I washed mud off of mud." - Steven Wright

This weekend, Rachel and I went to Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery to place some flowers on her dad's grave. Since we might not make it out around Thanksgiving, we (she) picked out flowers that would be appropriate through the fall.

The drive was quiet, but the weather was not. We had high winds, rain, and even some hail. Fortunately, the weather cleared up as we arrived at the cemetery and did not start raining until we started to leave. I think that we timed the trip well.

Tagline for today: "This isn't all true." - Steven Wright