I can't find the cable for my camera so no pics just yet, but as usual a most excellent time was had opening my santa gift from (I trust) one megan walker. Including some most excellent coffee, a copy of The Princess of Cleeves, which piqued my interest during a discussion here, and the Top Chef Quickfire Cookbook. (My restraint at waiting until day of to open paid off, too, since we all had a good laugh when I opened the package mere seconds after my sister had opened the copy of Tom Colliccio's book that I got her. Heh. There was a decided cookware/cooking theme to our xmas this year.) Plus, bath bombs! One of which I will use tonight to mark the end of my time off.

Vortex, I had a couple of extra bottles and thought it might be to your taste so I figured I'd send one your way. We discovered over the weekend that it's best right out of the freezer.

Yes, I am VERY EXCITED to try it, but I try not to drink when I'm taking acetominophen.

Soooon, Sooon, my precious!!!!!

Thanks Santa Polter-cow! Soon I will be listening to the tunes of Rah-Rah Riot while reading one of my favorite authors, Neil Stephenson, "Anthem." I'm behind on finishing (er, well, and starting) The Baroque Trilogy even though I own them, and had lost touch with this more recent work, a follow-up to the Baroque Trilogy. "Stephenson's expansive storytelling echoes Walter Miller's classic A Canticle for Leibowitz, the space operas of Larry Niven and the cultural meditations Douglas Hofstadter—a heady mix of antecedents that makes for long stretches of dazzling entertainment occasionally interrupted by pages of numbing colloquy," says Publishers Weekly. We'll see. His riffs are usually hugely entertaining. Thanks again, this'll be fun.

I can't find the cable for my camera so no pics just yet, but as usual a most excellent time was had opening my santa gift from (I trust) one megan walker.

I knew it wouldn't be hard to guess given the origin and contents!

I wasn't sure whether it would be okay to send whole bean coffee, but Blue Bottle won't grind beans they sell (@@). So, sorry, if you don't have a grinder!

A few days left to 2009. I just took down the xmas tree. Which never got decorated. Which sort of illustrates this year.

I would call it rocky. Most things are ok to good. health, new used cat, money.

But DH's job situation is just not good. and over the last few years it has only been ok.

What I want for 201o is a decent job for Matt, which means a place where they appreciate him and he has a little room to breathe. Give us that and I can make things move forward

Nope, got it covered on the grinder so it's all good. Thank you!

Oh good, you should have seen the look I got when I asked if I could get it ground. That's what I get for going to an "artisan microroaster" I guess. If you want a laugh, go to their website and read the page of directions on how to brew coffee.

Hah, yeah, that's some high octane crazy right there. And I worked at Starbucks for five years.

Not that that's a bad thing though, since it results in good stuff in my cup (even if I don't take care that my coffee is ground to the texture of the beach at Santa Cruz, not (gasp) Carmel like some kind of heathen).

Those coffee brewing instructions read like badfic.