Goat

If you are looking for me tomorrow, I'll be at the Commonwealth Goat Club meeting in Madison. I'm looking forward to it.

Water

The Economist has an alarming article about the state of the world's oceans in last week's issue. The article discusses the many environmental problems that will likely start to bite in the near future. The most alarming issues are all related to the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere and include rising sea levels due to ocean melt, an increase in the acidity of the sea and the spread of algae blooms (red tides). Although the consequences for the world's ecology are dire, the ramifications for people are severe.

To me, it was eye-opening to read such a bleak assessment in a paper that does not have a lefty agenda. I'd expect this kind of piece in The Nation, but from this source (they endorsed George Bush in 2000) it has more of an impact.

Plasma

Over the holidays, I bought the family an flat-panel HDTV - a Panasonic Viera TH-42PX80U. There wasn't anything wrong with the 32" Sanyo that had been doing yeoman's work in our family room since 2000. But after years of seeing them in bars and other people's homes and noticing that the prices had gotten below $1000, I decided to take the plunge.

I'm quite glad I did. I'm not a big TV watcher, but I do watch my share of sports (my wife would say more than my share). The worst part is that now I really miss HD clarity and detail in regular definition. The HD picture is unbelivably sharp and bright and you see stuff you never noticed before. I'm hoping that lacrosse coverage on ESPNU this spring is going to be in HD, but I don't think they have it quite yet.

First

A picture of Ellie gazing sagely at the valley from our first hike of the year yesterday. It was a beautiful, warm day for early January and we had a nice hike up at Chestnut Ridge.

We have gotten approval from the Australian Shepherd Rescue and Placement people to adopt a dog. Hopefully, we will have another dog to hike with Ellie in the near future.

Movies

We saw two movies over the holiday season which will probably match our total for the year. Both were entertaining.

The first was Marley and Me which worked well for me. I could relate to the situation that the people were in with career, kids and a dog (although our dog is fairly well behaved net of the occasional escape from the yard). I was a little teary when Marley dies at the end (I don't feel that is a spoiler because don't all good dog movies end that way?) Anyway, it was schmaltzy but fit the bill for a family Christmas movie.

Kate and I had a movie night last night and went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This one is about a guy, Benjamin, who is born old and gets younger. Benjamin has an existential viewpoint on all of this and understands that everything ends, even if it is going against the typical grain. The lifelong romance he had with Daisy was intriguing and the movie had a realistic take on the types of relationships people have (even if they are going in in reverse). The story was interesting and compelling but it could have been a bit more tightly edited. I'm not sure why people think a 3 hour movie is a good idea - it just makes my butt hurt. 30 minutes of that could have been left on the cutting room floor and it would not have impacted the story. This was the best movie I've seen in the last year. See it but be sure to bring your neck pillow to the theater.

Kalamzoo

I've talked about the Kalamazoo Promise previously. I was perusing a newsletter sent to us by the Roanoke City Schools and it looks like they are trying to get something similar going here. It is called the Roanoke Community College Access Program and it looks like a great start. The program is currently limited to Virginia Western Community College and doesn't have full funding, but if it keeps even a few high school kids more engaged, it's worth it.

époque

We rang in the Belle Epoque last night. Cirque du Soleil was interesting and it really worked well in the space. Everyone had good time in beautiful surroundings, but the music reminded me of the soundtrack of a fraternity party circa 1991.

The kids rang in the new year in a slightly different way.