This blog has now officially entered post-apartment-dwelling life. Viv and I are welcoming Rocky, a 10-month old border-collie mix, into his new home with us tonight. Poupou offers some helpful links.

Rocky was the very spirit of good behavior last night as we hosted Chris, Sabrina, and Cooper as the boys narrated their Antarctic adventure over the Christmas holidays. A 10-month old dog that barely makes a sound! What a wonder.

Learning about the trip was wonderful as well, as both gents produced compelling imagery. A bonus thrill was the ease with which we were able to route their computers into our household LAN and thence upstream to the projector and A/V amplification center. Given Chris, Coops, and my own interest in technology I was reasonably concerned that the attempt to present pictures and movies digitally via the LCD projector would degenerate into hours of attempting to route around ill-documented and competing media asset standards. But NO! It was really quite smooth and effortless, all things considered.

We were so enjoying our direct conversation with our guests that we failed to rise from table until nearly 11:00pm, and the slide show ran far into the wee hours of the night as a consequence.

Said guests were slated to spend the day pursuing the fabled snow goose in the environs of the lovely Skagit river valley. As today was a stunningly clear day with temperatures in the low fifties, I am sorry that it was the better part of prudence and canine management responsibilities to decline their kind offer to participate in the birding.