So, I'm on my way back to San Francisco, after having spent about 10 days in Chicago and the surrounding areas. As always, spending time with my family & extended family was great. We went over to Aunt Cathy's for Christmas Eve, and had the extended family over to our house for Christmas. Everybody seemed pretty happy to see me, especially Scout. Good old Scout is getting on in years, and is starting to show his age. He can still bust out with his playful puppy antics of old, but now for much shorter bursts. But that is okay, he still makes for an able companion to our family.
I completed trips to Peoria and Champaign. I went to Chicago twice -- once to consume Due's pizza with my family ("true" Chicago pizza), and the other time to see Fall Out Boy. My dad and I installed grandma's Christmas gift -- a new ceilling fan for the kitchen. I went to Oak Park for Mark and Laura's New Year's Eve party. And my folks took me on a drive all the way out to Woodstock, IL (hint: it's pretty far from Wheaton), in order to swap-out the 1Gb SO-DIMM that I bought for my PowerBook (more on that later). I saw a couple of movies: "Flight of the Phoenix", "Sideways", "The Ladykillers", and "Love, Actually". And of course, I went to Fry's (since my dad is such a nut about that store).
It seems like my trips to Chicago are always jam-packed with stuff to do. This one was more successful than most -- in that I accomplished pretty much everything that I wanted to do. I was glad to be away from work, and am not looking forward to going back. Although, I am looking forward to finishing moving into the new apartment -- there is something about not having my house in order that I find unsettling.
-Andy.