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I hope everyone had a fantastic Xmas! My parents were out here again, running from their Minnesota weather, and we had a great time. There were many presents to be opened, food to be eaten, and cards to be played. I'm not sure who won more games of back alley bridge, but I'm sure the women would say they did ;) My father and I decided to make fresh crab a new tradition as well. We had the store cook them, though, so the whole apartment didn't smell like the ocean as Amy feared. Christmas Eve dinner was at the Pelican Inn on the coast by Muir Beach, where we all ate too much, but the food was delicious and the views were spectacular. Speaking of which, somehow we managed to have perfect weather for the duration of my parents trip, with temps in the mid 60s and not a cloud in the sky. Pulling my father off the porch was a bit tricky sometimes, and getting them back on a plane was no easy task either. Friday night we head out to Minnesota ourselves on the red-eye for a friend's big New Year's Eve party, so we'll understand my parents' reluctance to leave well enough very shortly. Of course, after a few days with highs in the single digits, we get to return to California :)

That was me this morning filing my dissertation with the Graduate Division. Since we don't have a defense, that's it...I'm now a doctor in Physical Chemistry...cool. It's a bit anticlimactic, you give them a dissertation and they give you a receipt and a sucker. But it truly is the best tasting sucker ever, even if it wasn't delicious, it'd still taste good. Oh yeah, and if you can't read what's written on it, it says "PhinisheD" :)

Dr. Stevo

Nothing says Merry Christmas like an 8 foot tall snowman! In California, the holidays are what you make them, we don't have much assistance from mother nature. Of course, to us it's pretty cold in the evenings as it has been regularly been going down to the mid 30's, but without snow you don't really get that holiday feeling. Luckily, there are several houses along our street that do a pretty good job lighting up their houses and front yards. This is my effort to contribute to the spirit :) It looks out onto our apartment's driveway/parking, so not too many people see it, so I thought I'd share it here.

Well, Thanksgiving came and went, and that means it's the christmas season. Of course if you're going by Target's calendar, christmas began in September this year. Either way, it was explained to me by Amy that we were not getting a christmas tree this year until my dissertation was written and handed out to my committee. Awful, I know. But it appears to have been the proper motivation, because the dissertation was handed out yesterday, and now we have our tree! Frankly, I don't know which is more exciting :)

What? This isn't how you sleep?