Welcome back!

I know it's been ages, and I wish I could claim to have been way too busy to post, but that's not really the case. Since my last post, I got my grades (I'm keeping my fellowship), went to Wyoming for Chirstmas (an intense bonding experience with NWA flight #417), went to Boston (an intense bonding experience with cannoli in Little Italy), read lots of books, started to write one, cooked, ate, drank, relaxed, and generally enjoyed myself while avoiding the frigid cold (-20 makes for pretty days, but only if you're bundled up inside). I spent approximately 15 hours finding a good planner for the year. I learned to make really good pork roast. Also, the other day, Rob and I adopted Cricket, a one-year-old lab mix. She and Nick are getting along well, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that her favorite game is to try to fit Nick's face and her bone in her mouth at the same time.
Meanwhile, the new semester has begun. It's off to a good start, with a better schedule than last semester and classes I think I'll enjoy. But I've only been to a couple of them, and haven't done any homework so far, so things could always change....