Christmas day was uneventful. RO and I went to his family.

They are very competative. At least three times over Christmas, we all put money in a pot and bet on a competion... 1st when his oldest sister would arrive. She is always late. 2nd, we played musical chairs for money. 3rd was the outcome of a football game.

It's very different than my family. My family never gambles. When we play games, it's only for fun.

On the 26th we opened the store and put on a big sale. So far it seems to be working. I always get nervous about sales. It costs a couple thousand dollars to promote a sale, so it would hurt if the sale wasn't successfull.

On the 27th I flew back to Ontario to spend a week with my family and old friends. It was the first time I've flown first class. I liked it-- short lines and big chairs.

I spend the first night at Liam's. We had a great dinner together and went out for a couple of drinks. Liam is doing well despite his responsibilites. His sister had a child. then started using drugs and got caught. Child Services took the boy away from her. Rather than let his seven year old nephew be left to Child Services or adopted by a stranger (Not many good parents want seven year old boys) Liam adopted his nephew. It's been a lot of work and money and Liam has given up much to raise his nephew well. I'm proud of him for it. He's got guts.

I'm at my parents now. It's very different here. Very quiet. Peaceful. But, I know I will get bored in a day or so.

Thankfully my parents have Internet and Satelite TV.

It's Christmas Eve at the store. We've had a good December. Not as great as we had hoped, but more than enough to keep us out of trouble.

It's actually quiet today. For some reasons weekends at the store have been more quiet than week days. Maybe it's because we are not in a mall.

RO and I have been working hard. I'm looking forward to a day off.

We have power again. Finally. That cat's were a bit weirded out and much of the food in the fridge has gone bad. But, other than that nothing is wrong that a good cleaning won't take care of.

Some of the old buildings in downtown Kent have gone up in flames. Rumor has it that the roof was being re-tarred, something caught on fire.

Four days and still no power!

At first living in a log cabin without power was kind of charming. But it's starting to get old. We can't cook. We have to hang out at friends or go to restaurants.

It's cold. Last night two of the cats snuggled up with us in bed. One has learnt to crawl under the sheets for more heat.

I still don't have power, but the storm only did minor damage. Everyone is ok.

Wind gusts were up to 80 miles per hour. A few trees fell around our house, but they missed the homes. I feel like I've dodged a bullet. Some of the braches that fell were big but nothing big fell on the house or our vehicles.

As I said, we still don't have power. We do have hot water though. At least we can take warm showers.

RO and I just got back from a couple of days on Orcas Island. We stayed at a nice resort that was felt like it was run by enviromentalists, aging hippies and lesbians.

Monday night was open mic night. The restaurant chef got up and did a "Tofu Rap." He rapped about the joys of tofu and the evils of eating meat.

We also soked in the hot tubs and lounged around the sauna.

For the first time in a long time, the store's finances don't scare me. Christmas sales are going good. They are not as great as we had hoped, but they are still strong enough that we can pay our bills and have some money left over for a few special projects.

Another plus is that the store has been open for a year. We can now look back a year to see how much we've grown and estimate how much we will sell in a given month-- it makes budgeting much easier.