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Yes, they dressed their bird up in a Santa suit and submitted his photo to the Lite102.9 pageant. I think maybe that's the radio station that dad listens to, but I'm not sure. I don't know how else they would have known about it, though. In any event, Lola is the only avian contestant so far, and definitely has the looks to win. I think voting begins on Monday, and the winner brings in $500 in cash and $500 in pet store credit. So, if you're bored this coming week, visit the site and vote for Lola!

I can't believe it's been so long since I last officially posted! I made little notes about things I'd like to write about, but I guess I've been distracted lately. Let's see...what did I skip over? Well, school's been out for the past few weeks. I'm on the tuition payment plan now while I wait for reimbursement from work, but that's not really a big deal. We didn't do much for either the Martin Luther King holiday (we saw Pan's Labyrinth) or New Year's (stayed home). Wow, I didn't even post anything about our Christmas holiday dash down to South Carolina! Let's fix that...

The day before our journey south, my car had an oil change and a wash. Pretty routine stuff. Surprisingly, a few blocks away from the car wash, it stalled - and wouldn't restart. We thought the mechanic screwed up the oil change, but after looking under the hood (and under the car), everything seemed alright. The guy drove up to meet us, but he swore it was a fuel line issue. While I was on the phone with Pontiac, getting the "we're closing and won't reopen for four days" speech, he managed to get it running again. So we drove it home and parked it.

Somehow, we managed to squeeze all of our gifts, our kitty (in her jumbo crate), and our luggage into the Civic. It was tight, and kitty had a crap view, but we were able to make the straight drive down without losing much time. We did our usual South Carolina split - the husband's clan on Christmas Eve, my folks on Christmas morning. Next year will be even more interesting, with the possibility of a new niece or nephew. The husband's family will likely converge near the Outer Banks instead, so we'll have to skip I-81/I-77 for I-95 (and double the hop between families).

Christmas itself was quiet, but nice. We got quality time with the family peeps, and we brought back all manner of fun and sparkly things. I think last year, though, will be remembered as the year of the duplicates! But it was all good. Toys were played with, treasures were cherished, and clothes have already been put into rotation. Somehow, we managed to just-in-time forty holiday photocards, but I don't think we'll be following up with thank-yous. Hey, I'm just being honest. But, if you gifted us something, know that we are thankful and appreciated each gift!

The ride back to New York was rough; without a view, kitty was totally miserable. After settling back in, I called Pontiac about the car, but they said it would be two weeks before they could even look at it. They were being optimistic...it's now two weeks later, they've had my car for days, and they still haven't touched it. Meanwhile, our bathroom is a glorious, powdery mess thanks to my Sephora case full of Bare Escentuals, and the husband's bazooka telescope has been sadly thwarted by cold weather (and the area's light pollution).

If you're ever over on the Animation World Network website, keep your eyes open for "Horton Hears a Who" advertisements from yours truly. They're pretty simple, but they load quickly! More recently, I've been researching the WebOS movement and Ajax (with a focus on library development). Everyone has their favorites; every library has its caveats. But so far, I really like the Yahoo! User Interface Library. They've made a big push lately (some changes have been well-received and some have touched a nerve), even blending "traditional" Ajax with Flash, which is fairly unique. And that pretty much catches you up...for now!