Another 7 years and we’ll know what to call the decade…

To folks who have stumbled on this site and seem to actually be reading it over and over and over again, thanks. But fair warning: I don’t post every day. Usually not even close. And some days I’ll post 3 or 4 things. I lack the commitment and prolificness (prolificy? or just plain prolix?) of a Lileks. But what I lack in prolix, I make up in oversized digital pictures. Sometimes.
Lee was still sick on New Year’s Eve (is still sick, still, in fact), so no First Night for us. We had a family party at home — Hannah and I made pizza, we watched Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (first time the kids had seen it — Rebekah, as usual, was terrified, then begged to see it again the next day), and then we had ice cream sundaes with homemade whipped cream. Homemade whipped cream rules (not that I would ever eat the stuff from a can). I got two new mixers for Christmas, as the old one, my mother’s avocado hand-me-down from about 1970, had finally bitten the dust. I’m sure if I just put new brushes on the motor it would have been good as new, but the economy doesn’t roll with 50-cent brushes and who has the time to tear down motors anymore? Anyway, a very pleasant New Year’s Eve. Oddly, there were fireworks somewhere in town, and a big party up the street, so midnight was quite noisy for the first time I could recall. Kids slept right through it though. New Year’s Day was supremely lazy. Should have done a ton of laundry but didn’t. Mostly spent the day goofing around and watching snatches of the “No Boundaries” marathon on OLN.
2002 was a pretty good year, despite the difficulty of the first few months and all the WTC work. Lee got into skiing and had a good time, and started biking with the girls, too. Rebekah learned to ski and ride a bike, and suddenly blossomed in her reading. Hannah continues to blossom on her way to the angry-pre-teen years — she got a 7-speed bike with hand brakes and can now ride along with me for miles, which is very cool. We saw the ocean at Chincoteague and boiled in Lake Ontario, hiked up the stairs at Whiteface, and oohed and aahed under the balloons at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. We saw ski jumping on the Fourth of July (2nd year in a row), camped out with friends, visited cemeteries and hiked around lakes. The girls were fabulous and incredibly smart in responding to Lee’s accident. We kept emergency room visits down to two (about average, I think), but they were doozies — anaphylactic shock and a broken arm. I ran a faster 5k and got my first new bike in 20 years, and love biking again. At work, I didn’t get to travel much (bye-bye, Silver Preferred Frequent Flyer status), but I did a number of morning runs on the National Mall in DC, skated around the bay in San Diego, and enjoyed some lovely nights in New York. Also, I got a bill signed into law by a president, which still feels pretty cool.
Changes at work, people leaving, uncertainty and tension and opportunity with our budget problems, so the next couple of months will be difficult, but that’s what comes with being the man. Damn the man!