I'm heading off for a week long Caribbean cruise with all my old University friends. Fourteen families total, plus kids. RO is not coming with me. He wanted to come, but work kept him away.

RO is in Vegas, by day for work. By night he's gambling and partying.

He forgot to call last night. I didn't think much of it. He called me this morning. At some point while we were talking, he asked me where I was.

"At work" I answered.

"Why are you at work at eight?"

"It's only eight."

"You usually go home by six."

"I just got to work. It's eight in the morning."

"What? Oh my God."

He didn't realize he'd been up all night. When he got to his hotel room, and saw the clock, he thought it was 8pm. He said. "Vegas has no time. I left work at four, gambled a little, talked to some people, then came back to the hotel."

The Simpsons

Tonight I watched my first episode of the Simpson's since I think, 1997. It hasn't changed in years. It was good, but the jokes felt the same. Some of it was laugh out loud. Most of it was could have been clipped from the 1990's.

25 seasons. Wow. Longer than my career.

Some times I'm fascinated by obscure trade publications and how deep their thinking is. Today I stumbled on "Parking Today" complete with articles like "Using nitrogen gas to prevent corrosion in parking structure fire suppression systems"

Its good to know I'm not the only one who thinks very deeply about a very narrow field.

For Jan 1, I jumped into an ice cold lake. The "Polar Bear Dip" is an annual tradition around here.

About a week ago, we had dinner with D&P. P asked us what our plans were for New Years. We had none. He said that for the past 16 years he's been doing the Polar Bear dip. He invited us along.

RO did not swim. I did.

Water was 40F.  The experience wasn't as bad as you'd think it could be. While the water is cold, you're in and out before you can get cold. Just run back to your towel and quickly dry off.