Every start of a new year, it is a weird feeling to write a different year on documents and such. It is even weirder to write years in a different decade. As with most years, the prior year seems to have flown by.

This month, I celebrated my one year anniversary at Cuyahoga Community College. I think it is wonderful to work with not only a good team. But, it is also inspiring to know you have a part in helping educate and improve the community. I still like going to work each day and I look forward to many years to come.

I hope everyone had a good holiday. Unlike most years, Rachel and I actually dressed up and went out to celebrate. It is the first time since our wedding since she has worn a dress! She looked wonderful in it. She will probably post the pictures we took on her site.

I hope that everyone had a safe holiday. Rachel and I fell asleep shortly before midnight. I had got up around four yesterday morning, so I was starting to drift off. We drove out to Sandusky for a late lunch at Olive Garden with Rachel’s mom. While it had been snowing most of the time, I did not think it was too bad. But, on one short section of the highway, there were at least four cards stuck in the median. As we did not see these vehicles on the way out there, we assume that they slid off the rode shortly before we arrived. I do not know if they were going to fast or what.

Happy New Year! I hope that everyone had a safe and fun New Year's Day. Rachel and I spent last night on the computer playing games and such. We did not realize that the year had switched until we heard some fireworks outside. Normally, we fall to sleep shortly after midnight. This time, we were up past 3:00 AM watching movies and such. Today was a quiet day. We slept in and watched more movies.

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.

I hope that everyone had a better New Year's celebration than I did. Rachel and I spent New Year's Eve at my mother-in-law Pam's house. We spent the time watching movies and removing Christmas tree decorations. Well, that is what everyone else did. I spent most of the time in another room playing on a computer. I was not trying to be anti-social. I just had a sore throat and I did not want to infect anyone. Aside from trying to not cough, it was an enjoyable evening. After going home, Rachel and I stayed up until 5:00 AM watching television.

I hope that everyone had a fun and safe holiday season. With the exception of large amounts of snow, everything was quiet here. Since Rachel and I knew what we bought each other, I was not too surprised when we opened gifts. I did receive a new wooden puzzle though. I spent at least a half hour on it but have been unable to solve it so far.

I'd like to say happy New Years to everyone out there. I hope that everyone had a safe time last night. My wife and I had a nice dinner with my parents-in-law at our house. We had some turkey (leftover from Christmas), stuffing, roll, cranberry sauce and some candied yams. Considering that this was the first time that I had made turkey or candied yams, I think that they both turned out pretty good. My wife made a wonderful cherry cobbler for dessert. Let the leftover lunches begin!