Open the Floodgates!

Boy it's been hard to get back into blogging... I enjoy it, but it takes so much time. I've spent the last week battle a stomach bug that has kept me very close to the toilet, so I suppose I've actually closed the floodgates. Now I need diarrhea of a different kind!

So yes, I did spent three weeks in Australia last month. Way too much to put in one post, so I'll leave that on the agenda, perhaps even with a "table of contents" entry to organise it. Instead I'll start with Christmas and fill in the gaps later.

Christmas this year was at my sister's place. Chris was with me Christmas Eve and Morning, and my parents came in to town and stayed at a hotel for several days, which let them visit their town friends and eased all our travel plans. Very civilized, I thought. My brother had no respite though, they came up from New York state with their twins and they pretty much all got sick as soon as they started traveling. His girls are growing up fast and were fun to have around when they happened to be healthy.

We ended up dining together the day before Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve, and again for Christmas Lunch. Not only was it a lot of food, it was a lot of family! Note to self: spread all that stuff out next year, like over a month perhaps...

So what did Christmas bring for everyone? Lots of technology, lots of movies, lots of books. Chris got a new iPod nano, some spending money in his iTunes account, and the new Simpsons and Futurama movies. Sheryl got an iPod nano too, while her daughter got an iPod Touch. I got a nice sweater that I've been wearing almost on-stop, and an iPhone! Too bad I can't hack my iPhone to work as a cell phone in Canada (yet), but it's a groovy iPod, camera, and web browser. Santa brought Chris and I a new 32" Sony Bravia flat panel TV too, which Chris in particular loves...

New Year's Eve was an interesting variation on a theme. I spent all New Year's Day, starting right at midnight, demonstrating Bowflex fitness equipment on The Shopping Channel. Seven hour's worth of muscle building! Personally I've usually chosen to spend New Year's Eve quietly at home.

Since then I've been pretty busy with my triathlon club getting plans together for the coming season, leading another Running Room 5K Clinic, and other Shopping Channel gigs (January always has a big fitness focus apparently).

I did manage to find time to finally replace my superannuated 1994 Cavalier. Two weeks ago I picked up a 2006 Mazda 3 Sport, which is a much nicer ride... I managed to keep the news to myself for about a week and surprised Sheryl by showing up at her office behind it's wheel. My first road trip was this past weekend, heading up to the Washago International Film Festival (a weekend of spy-themed DVDs at a friend's cottage; Diamonds are Forever - a camp hoot with appalling acting, The Conversation - I loved it, but it's better seen alone, On Her Majesty's Secret Service - more camp, The Departed - excellent but grueling), where this photo was taken.

Last week I went with Chris to see Juno, a film he's already seen with his Mum. A fun film with entertaining dialog and a fantastic lead from Ellen Page, but I think the teen pregnancy thing was handled a little too lightly... Still, worth seeing.

Listening to: Oxygène Part IV by Jean Michel Jarre from Oxygène.