Winter falls....

I just got back from one of the BIG annual meetings (in San Diego this year) and it was a blast. I met a lot of great new people, saw some good work, and learned some new things about Python and some other good scientific software.

The weather here in Cleveland has been very warm since I got back from the Left Coast and that's always surprising during this time of year. Even though Winter is the most challenging season for us since we aren't particularly keen on a five month period of grey and cold, we DO have our indoor hobbies to keep us occupied. I have two guitars to build this winter, well one to finish and one to start and complete. So, with the Winter hobbies, the long cold-grey is at least bearable.

In other news, I now have a car. For the first time since 2004. I'm not a big fan of cars in general because they end up as money pits and I find driving with four wheels on the ground quite boring. My motorcycle will always be my favorite form of transportation. In this case, because my wife and I are zooming around with crazy schedules, a second car is going to be very handy. We had already been talking about buying a second car when a deal came along that I couldn't pass up. Ruth's friend Walt was visiting from Florida and mentioned that he needed to unload his Audi A4 due to neighborhood association rules (typical BS!) and did we happen to know anyone that would be interested in buying the car? I quickly made him aware that we were keen on buying it and would be happy to help him out.

Walt drove the car up last Friday and I took it to the shop today to get it checked out and have some small things fixed but it looks like a nice little car. I'll let you know how it does. I find it strange to drive a car after being without for so long and having Ruth do most of the driving. Yet, like riding a bicycle, it comes back quickly.