Arrival in Athens, Ohio

We're at the hotel now. Just spent a couple hours tracking down and fixing a problem at work -- /var at 100% and a minor coding error. Meanwhile the kids enjoyed the indoor pool and hot tub.

I'd taken a picture of my bike with my cell phone before we left and was planning to post that picture here, but somehow the picture didn't get saved. So I'm putting a picture of Eric that I took some time ago here instead, just to get the pleasure (?!) of uploading the picture from my cell phone to the computer. I figure that is a useful skill to have for maintaining this blog.

By the way, we drove the Prius anyway, since the part Fred brought back from AutoZone didn't solve the problem with the tail light. The seating is a little cramped and the trunk is totally full, but it's manageable.

Off to Ohio and Bike Riding

We're waiting to for Fred to get back from AutoZone, where he's buying a bulb for the tail light of the Buick. We could have taken the Prius on this trip, but its back seat is really uncomfortable for the person sitting in the middle. The five of us are going on this trip, so that's why we're taking the Buick. Unfortunately, this puts us at an even later start for our projected 9-10 hour trip. Marina is chomping at the bit -- she's been ready to go since early this morning.

The past two days I've gone on a short bike ride through the neighborhood. David and Marina and I went on Saturday, just Marina and I on Sunday. They are really great kids -- I'm significantly slower on my bike going up hills now than the two of them are, but they don't complain at all about having to wait for me. Maybe if I do more bike riding, I'll get stronger legs and better stamina.

Xmas Letter

Finally, I've got our Christmas letter done. At least, it's printing out now, and I'll snail mail it tomorrow. Seems a bit archaic, but I don't know the email addresses for many of the old friends and family on our Christmas card list. That's Marina on the right, showing off her new hat. And that's Sherlock in the Christmas tree.