The place where lost socks go...

Last day of the year. That makes it time for the "Year In Review" post. A retrospective, as it were, in both words and numbers. First the words:

As will be detailed in the upcoming "Decade In Review" post, 2008 was a year of intensity -- both good and bad. Compared to that, 2009 was much more mellow. Certainly, there were still highs and lows... yet, overall, there were fewer of them and they were less intense. For instance, I walked on hot coals... but not for the first time; all of our cats survived through this year; Starwood happened, but without the exploding Time Machine or the mud wrestling; I had no intense breakups this year, whereas last year there were two; no jumping out of airplanes (or aeroplanes) in 2009 for me. There was still intensity -- e.g., boating on the Thames in June was delightful, our main ritual at P**T*** in October was mind-blowingly awesome, and (believe it or not) last week's snowball fight within Stonehenge was highly charged for me -- there was just just less of it.

If 2008 was the Year of High Intensity, then 2009 was the Year of Building. Pentacles were hammered. At work, I was half of a two man team that built a Super-Kamiokande analysis group within the T2K UK collaboration. In my personal life, there were several new relationships[*]... but the greatest focus of the year was on building up two Very Important Relationships that I had begun in 2008. In Oxford, there was progress in my bell ringing and I helped with the birth of a new community -- the Oxford Bi Group. With my beloved cheshcat, we built up her strength... then had her leg re-built into something sturdier and more stable. In our Pagan practice, we completed a full cycle of the Wheel of the Year with a group that we had built.

There were, of course, some difficult times in 2009. Thankfully, none were as devastating as the multi-faceted blows that the Universe decided to give us in the first four months of 2008. Indeed, I think that the challenges presented in 2009 were actually good opportunities for growth and building closeness. Not everything fell out the way that I would have liked; some people drifted out of my circles, and a tribe that I had hoped to build came to naught. Still, looking back, I think that we weathered the storms quite well and are better off for having done so.

One significant development is that, in 2009, I began travelling more again, after a bit of a lull in 2008[**]. In January, I returned to Japan for the first time in almost five and a half years; in September, I returned to Kamioka -- where I had once lived -- for the first time in nearly seven! Within the UK, we branched out from simply exploring England to take our first steps (quite literally) into Scotland and spent the better part of a week exploring South Wales.

I do like adventures and intensity... but I also like building things that will last. My doctorate and my fifteen year relationship with cheshcat is proof of that! So, overall, I must say that 2009 was a pretty good year.


That said, then, here is a snapshot of 2009 in numbers:



NOTES:
[1] In decreasing order of time: the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan. That would also be list of the three countries that I have lived in.

[2] In chronological order from first entry: Illinois, New York, Michigan, New Jersey, Massachusetts.

[3] For the purposes of this entry, "long" is defined as being between 800 and 2000 miles. In 2009, I drove from New York City to Lansing, Michigan twice (one trip is currently in progress as I type this).

[4] Amazingly enough, 2009 surpassed the record that 2008 set for theatre. I saw a show, on average, every nine and a third days! Nice!

The list of shows breaks down in the following fashion:

• Pantomimes: 2 -- Dick Whittington & His Amazing Cat (Dec, Chipping Norton), Jack & The Beanstalk (Dec, OP)
  
  
• Shakespearean plays: 10 -- Romeo & Juliet (RSC), Othello (RSC, OP), The Winter's Tale (RSC), A Midsummer Night's Dream (OP), The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare's Globe touring, outdoors), Cymbeline (Glastonbury Abbey, outdoors), Henry V (Oxford), As You Like It (RSC), Julius Caesar (RSC), Twelfth Night (RSC)
  
  
• Musicals: 4 -- Fiddler on the Roof (OP), Little Shop of Horrors (Milton Keynes), West Side Story (OP), My Fair Lady (OP)
  
  
• Other: 23 -- Sir Gawain & The Green Knight (Newbury), Iolantha (Cambridge), Don Carlos (OP), Into The Little Hill (OP), Life & Beth (OP), The Real Thing (Salisbury Playhouse), Waiting for Godot (Milton Keynes), Whiter than Snow (North Wall, Oxford), Where There's A Will (OP), Room on the Broom (Cornerstone, Didcot), His Dark Materials (OP), The Playboy of the Western World (OP), Alphabetical Order (OP), An Inspector Calls (OP), The Winslow Boy (OP), One Small Step (Burton Taylor, Oxford), Spider's Web (OP), Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (Neo-Futurarium, Chicago), The Walworth Farce (OP), Dial M For Murder (OP), The Madness of King George III (OP), Days of Significance (RSC, OP), Arabian Nights (RSC)

Which makes the Oxford Playhouse my most frequented venue, with twenty shows, and the Royal Shakespeare Company's Courtyard Theatre a distant runner up, with six shows.

---

[*] One of which has been quite intense!

[**] Or at least what would qualify as a lull for somebody named Nomad. For others, perhaps not so lull-ish.

...begins with a single post!

Welcome to the first post of the second thousand entries in the Adventures of Anarchist Nomad![*] As the number one thousand is easy to divide by in base-10 maths, it seems appropriate to begin my second millennium by reviewing some statistics from the first. Here goes:

( Who watches the Watchmen? )

Having received 9200 comments, my average number of comments per entry is 9.2. Once one subtracts out the 3518 that were made by me (38.2%, or slightly more than 3/8ths), that leaves 5682 comments left by others -- an average of 5.7 external comments per post.

If I really had a lot of time to waste were on the proverbial ball, I could tally up the distribution of moods that I have experienced in the first thousand posts, to see what fraction of the time I am "cheerful" or "chipper" or whatnot. Likewise, I could do the same for my current music choices. Whilst knowing this information appeals to me, I'm afraid that it really isn't worth the time investment. As much as I am curious to learn what my average number of footnotes per post is, some things shall just have to remain a mystery!

Besides statistics, the start of my second LJ millennium is also a good time to do some housecleaning. In particular, now seems to be a good time to implement the overhaul of my f-list that was promised about a month ago in this entry. The basic guidelines are these:

• Anyone who does not have my on their f-list will be removed from mine[**]. This is not a comment on how I personally feel about anyone being removed. Rather, it is a return to a rule that I set for myself in the early days of this journal.
  
• Anyone who is already on my f-list who I have not met in person will not be removed. There are, I believe, two people who fit this criteria. They will not, however, be on the "Default View" list. Whilst I am sure that you are lovely people, I am hard pressed to read my f-list right now and need to prioritise people that I actually know.
  
• Anyone who has not left a comment in my journal in the past four months is presumed to not be reading this journal. Most of these people will be removed from my "Default View" to save time and allow me to keep up with my f-list. An exception will be made for anyone who has posted to their own journal an average of less than once per week during this time period. After all, if you aren't on LJ much at all then it doesn't cost me any time to leave you in my "Default View".
  
• A few people who do not pass the previous criteria will be removed from my f-list entirely. The people selected for removal will be those for whom I feel that any real-life connection has become non-existent. It is not intended as any sort of judgement; sadly the phrase "unfriending" has such negative connotations! It is simply a reflection of the fact that this journal is intended as a forum for me to interact with people that are actually my friends in real life.

In the interests of full disclosure, ( here is the list of people on my Default View page. )

This winnowing removes about 30% of the active users on my f-list[***]. It is my intention to stay current on all the entries written by the people on my new, reduced, f-list... and it is my hope that the lower volume will make it possible for me to do so.

Right, then. I think that this is enough housecleaning for now. This journal has been notably devoid of content for anything beyond my return to England from the States on January 6^th, despite the fact that quite a lot has happened since then. I aim to rectify this soon with a summary post detailing the most significant developments of 2009 to date, then to follow with more regular updated.

Welcome to the Next Millennium, Gentle Readers[****]! Hang on and enjoy the ride...

---

[*] Otherwise known as: "I would write one thousand entires, and I would write one thousand more..."

[**] There is one exception to this, with a complex historical basis. Think of it as the exception that proves the rule.

[***] "Active" being defined as "posting, on average, more than once per week."

[****] So... who is going to be the first person to comment on the second thousand entries?

As has been my tradition for four years now, this post -- probably uninteresting to anyone not named Anarchist_Nomad -- is a quick summary of the relevant statistics for 2008. Admittedly, I should have done this about a week ago... but better late than never!



NOTES:
[1] In decreasing order of time: United Kingdom and United States.

[2] In chronological order from first entry: New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Michigan, Massachusetts, Ohio

[3] For the purposes of this entry, "long" is defined as being between 800 and 2000 miles. Even with my "Christmas-on-Wheels" extravaganza, I only had one segment that was longer than eight hundred miles. Most of the time, I drove no further than about four hundred before stopping to visit somebody.

[4] Without a doubt, 2008 was a record year for me, when it comes to theatre. I saw a show, on average, every nine and a half days! Nice!

The list of shows breaks down in the following fashion:

• Pantomimes: 3 -- Rapunzel (Jan, Chipping Norton), Robin Hood (Dec, Birmingham Hippodrome), Sleeping Beauty (Dec, OP)
  
  
• Shakespearean plays: 19 -- Richard II (RSC), Henry IV, part 1 (RSC), Henry IV, part 2 (RSC), Henry V (RSC), Henry VI, part 1 (RSC), Henry VI, part 2 (RSC), Henry VI, part 3 (RSC), Richard III (RSC), Measure for Measure (Creation), Twelfth Night (Lincoln College, outdoors), Twelfth Night (OSC, outdoors), As You Like It (OTG, outdoors), Much Ado About Nothing (Creation, outdoors), The Winters Tale (Shakespeare's Globe touring, outdoors), Hamlet (RSC), The Taming of the Shrew (RSC), A Midsummer Night's Dream (RSC), Love's Labours Lost (RSC)
  
  
• Musicals: 3 -- Avenue Q (West End), Thoroughly Modern Millie (OP), Chess (OP)
  
  
• Other: 13 -- The Rivals (OP), A Trip to Scarborough (OP), Plaza Suite (OP), Educating Agnes (OP), London Assurance (OP), The 39 Steps (OP), Improbably Fiction (Abingdon), Animal Farm (Creation, outdoors), Lucky You (OP), The Woman In Black (OP), Noises Off (OP), Liberty (OP), Hans Christian Anderson (Creation, Mirror Tent)

Which makes the Oxford Playhouse my most frequented venue, with thirteen shows, and the Royal Shakespeare Company's Courtyard Theatre a close runner up, with twelve shows.

Another half a page of scribbled lines about my presentation at the "Dark Side of Astronomy" weekend. Probably not nearly as interesting as the story I have already told. On the other hand, it is far shorter and does document some statistics that I would like to remember.

There were about 110 participants who came to the Astronomy Weekend -- this number is constrained by the size of the lecture theatre; the event actually sold out. The talk lasted for seventy-five minutes, including a break partway through where I invited questions (to make sure I had not lost anyone in the audience yet). At the end, there were another fifteen minutes of formal questions before the audience was dispersed by the chair. However, I was then set upon by a fair number of people who asked questions privately for another half hour, until dinner began.

Also worth noting is the fact that this is the first time I have gotten paid for speaking. It was not much (£84), but it is still a first. Indeed, when I was contact last May, I had agreed to give the lecture before learning that I would be paid. So the speaker's fee is more of a bonus for my ego than my pocketbook.

Speaking of money -- yet switching topics entirely -- the new designs for the UK coins were finally revealed last week! After waiting months to see them (and periodically checking the Web to wage a futile hunt for them), it was ms_katonic who learned that the designs had been announced... and she was kind enough to text me to bring it to my attention. For those who don't know -- probably the majority of my f-list -- the Royal Mint is completely revamping the backs of all the British coins this year except for that of the £2 coin.

There are eight coins in common circulation (1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1, £2) so seven are changing. The pound coin, which has changed from year to year anyway, will now have the shield of the Royal Arms on the back. The other six coins will each have a fragment of the Royal Arms so that those coins, when placed together, will join to form Voltron: Defender of the Universe the shield as well. (Sort of)

According to the newspaper reviews that I have read, the new design on the coinage is not being well received. Two particular complaints are that (a) for the first time since 1672, none of the coins feature the image of the Roman Goddess Britannia, and (b) Wales -- being the only UK country not represented on the Royal Arms -- is not featured on the new coins. Oddly enough, the man who came up with the design is Welsh. Go figure.

Personally, I go back and forth in my opinion of the new coins. I think that they are pretty cool, although perhaps they would be better as a one year, special edition, commemorative release... rather than the new standard UK currency for the indefinite future. ( Here are images of new and old -- let me know what you think! )

Regardless of whatever opinion I settle on, I did go to my local bank a day or two after the release, trying to procure the new coins. However, I do not think that they have actually been circulated yet. The teller, for one, looked at me oddly when I asked if he had any of the new coins. Indeed, he asked me what I was talking about... having not heard the news about them himself! Ah, well. They shall come in time.

As you already know, dear friends, the end of 2007 was focused on the unexpected loss of a dear friend. As such, the typical end-of-year retrospective was the furthest thing from my thoughts at the time. Bearing this in mind, perhaps you can find it in your collective hearts to forgive this ridiculously late entry.

Two years ago, I said that "2005 was a hard year, but not necessarily a bad one" and "I can be sure that 2006 will be very different from 2005." This turned out to be both true and not true. Certainly the events of 2006 were quite different than those of 2005, but the description was still valid for 2006. For 2007, I think a better description would be: "Last two weeks excepted, 2007 was an incredibly good year!" I went many places, did many things, and met quite a number of wonderful people.

That said, here are some relevant statistics for the year that just ended. Each year, I claim that it will be interesting [at least to me] to come back in a year's time and compare the relevant stats from these various years, thus I have done so. I doubt that anyone but me will care about such details... but I do care, and that is reason enough. Beisdes, as the great Peter Parker tells us, with great geekiness comes great urge to count things! Or something like that. So here goes:

1. Number of commercial flights: 2005 = 33 ; 2006 = 29 ; 2007 = 21
   
2. Miles flew: 2005 = ~81,000 ; 2006 = ~43,500 ; 2007 = ~40,000
   
3. Average airspeed: 2005 = 9.25 miles/hour ; 2006 = 4.97 miles/hour ; 2007 = 4.57 miles/hour
   
4. International trips: 2005 = 5 ; 2006 = 6[*]; 2007 = 5
   
5. Countries I spent time in: 2005 = 4 (USA, Argentina, India, Canada) ; 2006 = 6 (USA, UK, Italy, Ireland, France, Vatican) ; 2007 = 4 (USA, UK, France, Italy)
   
6. States I spent time in: 2005 = 17 ; 2006 = 7 ; 2007 = ( 9 )
   
   
7. Number of long road trips (long == between 800 and 2000 miles): 2005 = 5 ; 2006 = 2 ; 2007 = 1[**]
   
8. Sci-Fi conventions attended: 2005 = [sorta] 1 (Congenial) ; 2006 = 1 (Capricon) ; 2007 = 0[***]
   
9. Number of times skydiving: 2005 = 1 ; 2006 = 1 ; 2007 = 0
   
10. Number of times SCUBA diving: 2005 = 1 ; 2006 = 0 ; 2007 = 1
    
11. Number of water parks visited: 2005 = 2 ; 2006 = 0 ; 2007 = 2
    
12. Number of Pagan gatherings: 2005 = 3 ; 2006 = 1 ; 2007 = 2
    
13. Number of theatrical performances attended: 2005 = ?? ; 2006 = 24 ; 2007 = 24

Breaking the theatre down by category, we get even more statistics with which to amaze and astound (or simply bore the helavic out of) you:

• Musicals: 6 (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee on Broadway; Company, Herge's Adventures of Tin Tin, By Jeeves, The Boy Friend, and The Palace of Delight in Oxford)
  
  
• Shakespearean plays: 6 (Richard III, King Lear, and MacBeth in Stratford-upon-Avon; As You Like It, Midsummer Nights Dream, and Richard III in Oxford)
  
  
• Oscar Wilde plays: 1 (An Ideal Husband in Oxford, which rounds off having see the other three -- The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance -- the in Oxford in 2006)
  
  
• Pantomimes: 1 (Aladdin)
  
  
• Other: 10 (All In The Timing, Hay Fever, Jason & The Argonauts, Private Lives, Brothers Grimm, Floating, Playhouse Creatures, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, MacBett, and Blue Man Group)

Which makes for a total of twenty-four trips to the theatre in 2007. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself! I should note that I have already seen one show (the Rapunzel panto) in 2008... and cheshcat and I currently hold tickets to twelve more (nine RSC performances and three Oxford Playhouse shows). So 2008 looks like it will not be lacking in theatre, either!

And, with that, I can't think of anything more to count for 2007, so I shall leave this subject alone for another year.

---

[*] For the purposes of counting "international trips", journeys between the US and the UK are not counted, seeing as I call each of them home.

[**] In actually, there were several long trips in 2007. While Stateside in October, I put over 3000 miles on the Infinity... and while home from Christmas and Yule, I put about 1500 miles on the rental car. However, most of these trips were sensibly planned with stops in the middle, to break them up by visiting people. As such, they cannot be counted as one cohesive trip.

[***] Plans are already on order to rectify this deficit in 2008, at Eastercon.

Flew back to the land of the fording oxen last night. Of course, it's been nearly a year since I moved here and I've yet to see a single ox in Oxford. Ah, well -- we all have our crosses to ox bear.

Anyway, this is a long and rambling entry, so I'll be kind and break it up into pieces which can be put behind cuts:

( Passport )

( Review of Richard III )

( Moon )

( Cats and Bats )

( Physics )

( Bells )

And I think that is all the news that is fit to print today.

Since we're at the end of the first week of the year, it seems like "now or never" time for compiling random personal statistics from 2006. One year ago, I said that "2005 was a hard year, but not necessarily a bad one" and "I can be sure that 2006 will be very different from 2005." This turned out to be both true and not true. Certainly the events of 2006 were quite different than those of 2005, give that cheshcat and I expatriated. However, I think that I can still describe 2006 in much the same way: It was a hard year at many points, but it was a good year. Unlike 2005, not many bad things happened in 2006... except for the last week of October, when all fit hit the shan. However, adapting to life as a foreigner in a new county -- and the pressure that comes with a job at one of the top three universities in the world! -- carries with it some inherent difficulty. Luckily, as one of my cellmates once described me, I am still "the biggest mother-f**king optimist"!

That said, here are some relevant statistics for the year that just ended. Last year, I said that it would be interesting to come back in a year's time and compare the relevant stats from these two years, thus I have done so. I doubt that anyone but me will care about such details... but I do care, and that is reason enough. Beisdes, as everybody knows, with great geekiness comes great urge to count things! So here they are:

1. Number of days spent away from home: 2005 = 195 ; 2006 = ???[*]
   
2. Percentage of year spent away from home: 2005 = 53.4% ; 2006 = ???[*]
   
3. Number of commercial flights: 2005 = 33 ; 2006 = 29
   
4. Miles flew: 2005 = ~81,000 ; 2006 = ~43,500
   
5. Average airspeed: 2005 = 9.25 miles/hour ; 2006 = 4.97 miles/hour
   
6. International trips: 2005 = 5 ; 2006 = 6[**]
   
7. Countries I spent time in: 2005 = 4 (USA, Argentina, India, Canada) ; 2006 = 6 (USA, UK, Italy, Ireland, France, Vatican)
   
8. States I spent time in: 2005 = 17 ; 2006 = ( 7 )
   
   
9. Number of long road trips (long == between 800 and 2000 miles): 2005 = 5 ; 2006 = 2
   
10. Sci-Fi conventions attended: 2005 = [sorta] 1 (Congenial) ; 2006 = 1 (Capricon)
    
11. Number of times skydiving: 2005 = 1 ; 2006 = 1
    
12. Number of Pagan gatherings: 2005 = 3 ; 2006 = 1
    

---

[*] Not sure what "away from home" means since the move to Oxford. If I am at the Event Horizon, does that count as "away from home"? Hard to say...
[**] Similarly, it is harder to define an "international trip" than it used to be. Until 2006, I defined one "international trip" as the span between leaving the United States and returning, no matter how many countries I visited. My new working definition, while I live in the UK, is this: one "international trip" is the span of time between leaving the superspace formed by the US and the UK and returning to that superspace.

---

Adding a new category, for theatre, here are more statistics with which to amaze and astound (or simply bore the helavic out of) you:

• Musicals: 4 (Rent and Wicked on Broadway, The Producers in the West End, The Gondoliers in Oxford)
  
• Shakespearean plays: 7 (Othello, Winter's Tale, The Tempest (x2), Taming of the Shrew, Comedy of Errors, Troilus & Cressida)
  
• Oscar Wilde plays: 3 (The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance)
  
• Pantomimes: 1 (Dick Whittington)
  
• Other: 9 (The Shape of Things, Lola, Wolves in the Walls, Revelations, A Night at the Grand-Guignol, Wyrd Sisters, My Name is Rachel Corrie, Three Tall Women, The Glass Menagerie)

Which makes for a total of twenty-four trips to the theatre in 2006. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself!

And, with that, I can't think of anything more to count for 2006, so I shall leave this subject alone for another year.

In today's New York Times on-line, I read an article saying that financial statistics from 2004 has just been made public. In particular, the mean and median incomes, as well as the median net worth, caught my eye. In a society that has such a skewed wealth distribution, the difference between the mean income (about $70k in 2004) and the median (about $43k) says quite a bit.

In any case, the numbers geek in me got together with the Anarchist and formulated the poll below. Basically, I am interested in the wealth distribution of my friends, compared to the national average. If you can, please compare your wealth and net worth from 2004 to the statistics released from 2004. If you don't remember that far back, go for your current values. Out of respect for privacy, I have made the poll answerable by all and results are visible to none. When the answers are all in, I will publicly mention only the final results (i.e., no personal data will be mentioned). Furthermore, if you want to answer but have privacy issues with me, feel free to log out and take the poll anonymously. Personally, I think that the social taboo against discussing income mainly serves the wealthy and does nothing to benefit the working class; however, I do acknowledge that such a taboo exists and my poll is breaking it.

And, that said, here is the poll in question:

[Poll #679145]

Just finished the twenty pound bag of cat food that I had opened on January 29th. I will have to open a new bag, on February 24nd. The newly depleted bag lasted for twenty-six days. That means that my cats consume food at a rate of 0.77 lbs per day.

Furthermore, since I have six cats, one can make the first-order approximation that they each consume the same amount of food. With this assumption, I find that each cat eats about 0.13 lbs of food per day.

That number seemed surprisingly low at first. However, the average weight of the cats at the Event Horizon is twelve pounds (individual weights are 7, 11, 11, 13, 14, and 16 pounds). So each cat is consuming about 1.06% of its body weight daily. That seems less surprising. I weigh 185 pounds; for me to consume the same percent of my body weight would mean that I eat about two pounds of food per day. I have not actually measured the weight of the food that I consume each day, but two pounds does not sound so unreasonable to me.

[2/24/2006 Addendum: The last bowls of food took longer than I expected to be eaten. So the numbers in this entry have been revised accordingly.]

Should have done this a week ago, of course, but better late than never. I was struck last week by how many people wrote things in their LJs like: "Good riddance to 2005!" and "Hope 2006 will be better than 2005 was. It couldn't get much worse." Seems like last year was double plus ungood for a lot of people. For me, I think that 2005 was a hard year, but not necessarily a bad one. Lots of bad stuff did happen (e.g. stolen car, my job situation, losing a cat), but lots of good things happened, too (e.g. visiting Earthships with resouceress for our fifth anniversary, my thirtieth birthday party, new relationship with cassiopia, vacationing in Buenos Aires with cheshcat). With effort, some of the bad things were turned into good things, like finding a good deal on an Infiniti after the Stratus was stolen... then recovering the Stratus, too, or getting a job offer from the University of Oxford after my situation at work. Certainly, with the move to England pending, I can be sure that 2006 will be very different from 2005.

That said, here are some relevant statistics for the year that just ended. I doubt that anyone but me will care about such details... but I do care, and that is reason enough. So here they are:

1. Number of days spent away from home: 195
   
2. Percentage of year spent away from home: 53.4%
   
3. Number of commercial flights: 33 (second only to the 34 that I flew in 2004)
   
4. Miles flew: Approximately 81,000
   
5. Average airspeed: 9.25 miles per hour
   
6. International trips: 5 (three to Argentina, one to India, one to Canada)
   
7. Countries I spent time in: 4 (USA, Argentina, India, Canada)
   
8. States I spent time in: ( seventeen )
   
   
9. Number of long road trips (long == between 800 and 2000 miles): 5
   
10. Sci-Fi conventions attended: Sorta one (Congenial)

Other random tidbits of relevance:

• Drove two cars (Pazu and Lucretia II) past the 100,000 mile mark.
  
• Went skydiving
  

As I said earlier, 2006 will surely be very different from 2005. Will be interesting to come back in a year's time and compare the relevant stats from these two years...