Taking the Acela train from Boston to NYC, going to stay overnite for New Year's. The train is so relaxing and peaceful. You get a real sense of travel in a train. Towns and countrysides constantly slipping past the windows. Time to read and occasionally glance outside to see new places that you are only touching for a moment.

Upon reflecting on the current state of affairs in the friendly ol' US of A , I decided to bring a book that would put me in the proper mindset to deal with the upcoming New Year. Coming events cast their shadows before. Swell.

Both Spooky and Ariel are enjoying their Christmas present immensely. It's a mechanical-type Tamagochi called "Mutsu the Curious Fish" by Tiger Electronics. You fill this tank with an inch of water, then place a tiny plastic fish in the tank. There are 3 buttons to feed the fish, and a motorized magnet under the tank pulls the fish around to make it seem alive. It also has a microphone so it responds to sounds, and a speaker to play back the typically bizarre Japanese "oooooh" and "wheeeeeeooooh" and "squeeeeeik" electronic animal sounds.

Mustsu is inedible, never dies, and always swimming around within paw-reach for some batting around. The *perfect* prey. :)

Both Spooky and Ariel are enjoying their Christmas present immensely. It's a mechanical-type Tamagochi called "Mutsu the Curious Fish" by Tiger Electronics. You fill this tank with an inch of water, then place a ti

Christmas has come and gone. So has a frightful snowstorm, one that left mounds of snow and bright crusts of ice everywhere here in Boston.

Two of my gargoyles braved the snow and managed to keep their heads above the drifts. There's something beautiful and peaceful about gargoyles surrounded by snow. They are creatures frozen in stone, frozen in time. Crouching in a white frozen world of ice, gargoyles seem right at home.

I received two new additions to my gargoyle family. One is a small, lithe Chinese dragon that has found a place perched on a lampstand. The other is a large heavy Celtic War Dog, made of iron, now seated on the floor and guarding my living room. The Celts used dogs in times of war, outfitting them with plates of armor and boiled leather. This one looks quite formidable, but my two cats so far seem unphased and have adopted him into our clan.

I hope everyone here had a safe and merry Christmas.

Well, as you can see, at least *one* of my roomates (Spooky) seems psyched for this evening's plan. I think Ariel would rather watch a chick flick like "Ya Ya Sisterhood" or something. Jeesh, sometimes it is so hard to please the feminine persuasion...especially the feline kind.

Oh yeah....it's a nite of fine dining and entertainment at Chez Zero this Saturday evening. Heh!

Well, I *was* supposed to go out with some friends, but they bailed on me. At least I get to watch one of the best comedies ever made and dine with two beautiful girls...(my cats Ariel and Spooky).

Got my spoon. Got my remote. Got my bathrobe. Ready steady go.

Hey golfingtigger, here's that pic of Tinkerbell again. I'll take some more pics this weekend of the other stickers I got and post them here. :)

I've observed an interesting phenomenon here. Does anyone notice how our posts kind of have a *rhythm* to them? A rhythm that constantly moves between:

1) vague introspection (e.g., "here's what I ate today," "here's stuff that I like," "here's a snapshot of people in my life")

and

2) coordinated focus (e.g., the Scavenger Hunt, "let's help so-and-so get a new camera," "let's all post pics of some specific event happening (like the snowstorms)," "let's focus on christmas lights/trees/etc."

Anyway, I think it's pretty neat. I'm gonna start calling it "Mob-Pulse," cause it definitely feels like some kind of biological pulse to me. Systole and Diastole. Focus and de-focus. Interesting. And just like a biological pulse, it appears to speed up and slow down sometimes.

Just my 2 cents....

As I was leaving my apartment this morning, it felt like some of my gargoyles wanted to have their pictures taken. So here are three.

I like to collect gargoyles, and I find it very peaceful and comforting to live around them. They quietly watch over everything with a silence that is often hard to find in this noisy media-overloaded world.

Enough rambling....heh.

Spent a couple days in Florida attending a conference. It was held at the Dolphin hotel smack in the middle of the commercial cultural wasteland that is "DisneyWorld."

Pic of my view from my room's balcony. Also, I found a cool bunch of Tinkerbell stickers in the hotel gift shop. She's the only Disney character that I like. Probably because I think she's a celluloid hottie. C'mon, just look at her. What a little minx. If only she were human-sized.

Oh, yeah, and real instead of a cartoon.

Also saw a huge xmas tree in the lobby. The strange thing is that was made out of pointsettias. Doesn't that seem odd, creating a tree out of a totally different plant? What's next? A pointsettia made out of pine trees? A shrubbery made out of celery? When does the madness end?

I think I need some sleep...

Cats are amazing. They interact with humans as equals, never tolerating bossy people or submissively taking orders from anyone. Fiercely independent, they are still wild predators at heart yet love to give and receive affection. I wish more people were like cats.

My cat Ariel is special. She's a polydactyl, which means she has extra toes and claws. Each of her front paws has 3 extra toes and each of her back paws has 2 extra toes. Some of the claws are a bit oversized and hence non-retractable, so they stick out permanently like the talons on a raptor. Nice.

Boston is historically known as a place where lots of polydactyl cats originated. Sailors always prederred keeping polydactyl cats because they are better at catching rodents. Since Boston was a main shipping port, lots of these sailors' cats found their way ashore and reproduced (the polydactyl trait is heritable). Interesting trivia fact...Ernest Hemingway loved polydactyl cats and bred many of them at his home. So much so that polydactyl cats are sometimes referred to as "Hemingway Cats."

It's funny. Ariel has a nightmare of sharp extra claws, completely black fur, and bright green eyes with a face that often looks devilishly sinister. People are often a bit afraid when they first see her. But she's the sweetest cat in the world...