The sun may rise in the East, at least, it settles in a final location...

It's Californication...

The holidays went by in a flash, and we're back to the grind. My grind is the traveling variety and Mandy's is the testing variety. With the help (and by help, I mean doing-all-of-the-work) of Mandy's parents, we were able to accomplish quite a bit over the holiday. The kitchen and bathrooms have been painted, the gate in the back is working again, and we have all sorts of organizing and decorating paraphernalia to adorn the house. They have made it back to Grand Rapids, and we extend our love and thanks for their visit. It was great to spend time with family over the holidays, even if the majority of the family is far away.

A few quick updates:
1. The running club is still on. We've brainstormed a few names for it, and since we haven't gotten any responses from the name email Mandy sent out, we're going to name it ourselves. So there.

2. Nikki, the newest and only dog-member of the household is doing well. She is a bit melancholy due to Mandy's parents leaving, but she's doing better day by day. Mandy is looking into some training options for her, and we'll hopefully be implementing those before too long. The trick with the training is it's mostly for the owners, not the dog. So, it's highly recommended everyone who will be participating in the training of the dog attend the classes. The problem is, I never know what days I'm going to be in or out of town, so it's impossible for me be sure to attend all the classes.

3. I'm off to California this week (I'm in Santa Monica right now) and will be in DC next week. There are also possible visits to NASA, South Carolina, and some military installation in Minnesota on the horizon. I'll be fluttering here and there, but always reachable by email and cell.

4. The cats are adjusting better than we expected to the arrival of Nikki. They seem to be pretty intent on being friends, and Niki wants to play with them all the time, but whenever they run or do anything quickly, Niki takes that as a cue to jump around and chase them, which freaks them out, and hostility quickly escalates.

That's about it from us. Things have ramped back up to full steam, and the holidays are receding quickly into the past. I can't believe Christmas and New Years has come and gone already. It's so crazy.