POST-CHRISTMAS UPDATE

It appears that everyone's Christmas went very well. Good times were had with few complaints.

Jill and I had a quiet Christmas, opening our presents around 10am after enjoying a nice sleep in - except for a call around 8:55am - after staying up late wrapping, baking and cooking.

Jill got a nice set of anodized aluminum cookware (15 pieces) from Nino & Sundaye, but from me she got Series 1-5 of Are You Being Served? on DVD



and a new cell phone service. Her phone number stays the same.

I, on the other hand, got a new cell phone and my new number is as follows:

503.522.1236

It's Verizon, so all of you on their network can call with fewer worries of burning up all of your monthly minutes. We received many other gifts and we are grateful to all. If you haven't received yours yet, it's on the way soon enough.

KATE BREAKS HER ANKLE

Tom called to ask how Christmas went and then relayed that Kate broke her ankle dancing at one of two wedding receptions they attended over the weekend. Apparently, some irresponsible person spilled wine on the dance floor and didn't say anything. Kate slipped, and well, use your imagination. We wish Kate a very speedy recovery!

Tom also mentioned he got the dish network satellite television for Christmas. Lucky devil.

RETURN OF THE KING

Just do yourself a favor and go see it. It's the fastest 3 hours and 10 minutes I think I've ever spent. And, besting only the Making Out During Schindler's List episode of Seinfeld, I don't think I've seen something so deftly weave so many storylines in such a frantic manner.

Here is a link to Rotten Tomatoes' review of LOTR:Return of the King. That website is a clearinghouse of links to pretty much any and every film critic nationwide that has any credibility, as well as many on the internet and elsewhere that aren't quite as prominent. You can look up any film and the collection/concensus of reviews.

The Tomatometer for LOTR:ROTK is an astonishing 97% approval given the length and expectations of the film. Just go see it!

INGA CHOW-MONREAL UPDATE

My old Baylor friend Inga Chow-Monreal wrote and is going through the ups and downs of pregnancy. She and her husband Richard are expecting a boy sometime in March or April. Undoubtedly the kid will be an athlete.

It also looks like Inga's family is trying to plan a trip to China (they're ethnically Chinese, although their family has been here for more than a few generations). She expressed that she was worried about whether or not she would get to go, but I think things will work out just fine for her. Congratulations Inga and Richard.. keep me updated!

UPDATE: MOO, EH?

It turns out the Holstein heifer with Mad Cow Disease (I'm not a cow, I'm a duck) up in the Yakima Valley of Washington is actually from Canada! This story, from Winnipeg, gives details. But notice that the cow is very clearly "US" in the headline but complicated DNA tests are being run to check its nativity. Nevermind the cow's eartag already identified as denoting Canadian origin. If the eartag don't fit, you must acquit.

Canada had a case of Mad Cow back in the mid-1990s. In 1997, Canada and the U.S. banned feed that contained cow parts, specifically rendered brain and spinal chord material - which carries Mad Cow bacteria. But it turns out the cow was born before the 1997 ban and more than likely, purchased from Alberta ranchers and used as a dairy cow in Washington until it was slaughtered and processed.

The Vietnamese restaurant Jill and I enjoyed for lunch yesterday, Green Papaya Bistro, had a beef recall, so Jill couldn't have Pho beef noodle soup. But the chicken sauteed in curry and lemongrass, as well as my udon curry chicken noodle soup, were both outstanding!

CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE

It's been 19 days since I last updated, much has been going on and it never seems like I have time to update. But I'll do it now. So here goes...

Merry Christmas!! May the miracle of Christ's birth provide you with hope, joy and peace!

Jill and I will be spending Christmas at home in Hillsboro with Jill's parents John and Judy. We'll be joined by Lisa and Marianne, two family friends. Marianne will be staying at our house; she lives in Southern Oregon and will be arriving later this afternoon.

Mom and Dad will be spending Christmas in Baggs, Wyoming on-location where Dad is drilling a series of wells through March. Sounds like a great gig, except that it's in Wyoming. They'll get to spend much more time together now that they're footloose and fancy free after the sale of the house - more later...

Tom and Kate will be spending their first married Christmas with Kate's family in Sacramento. Big family gatherings can be a lot of fun.. and who knows, they might all go skiing.

Me-ma is spending Christmas in Tempe with Melissa and Gary. We'll be sending her gifts to her at Sue and George's house in Gallup, NM. We're late sending out presents, so we apologize profusely!

Charlotte is spending her Christmas with Art and Lorrae's family and Diana's family (from Indiana) in San Antonio, where the weather will undoubtedly be warmer and sunnier than here. But it's Texas...

Grandma and Grandpa Reid will be in Farmington, but I have no idea who will be visiting until I call them tomorrow. Likely Grampa Gus and family, provided he gets a little time off.

And just remember: if you don't get what you want for Christmas or you find yourself feeling down tomorrow, you don't have it as bad as this KTUU (NBC) reporter in Fairbanks, AK reporting from Santa's house at the North Pole! (from the Associated Press)



JOHN'S EYE SURGERY APPEARS TO BE A SUCCESS

John's eye surgery this past year appears to have done (part of) the trick for him according to a recent doctor's visit. According to their prognosis, they're within striking distance of getting his eyesight back to where he can drive again. He has cataracts, but they're apparently (relatively) easy taken care of, so all of this is positive news. More updates as we learn more ourselves!

JILL RECOVERS FROM THE FLU

Jill's flu virus appears to have nearly all cleared up now after knocking her down pretty hard for the better part of two weeks. The whole week Mom and Dad were in town to look around Clark County, Washington, Jill was laid out completely and not able to interact much or go and do things. She did go back to work last week but was very weak and had to take it very easy.

But, she is feeling better now and is getting around much better doing what she needs to do. However, the upshot is that we have done very little to decorate the house for Christmas between her being sick and me taking care of her and being busy at work. We don't mean to be grinches! The Christmas tree is up, however and looks great.

MOM AND DAD VISIT

A couple of weeks ago, when Jill was sick, Mom and Dad visited us and checked out Clark County, Washington for possible home sites. They're looking for a little bit of forested acreage on which to have a cedar house built. Clark County, Washington is just north of the Columbia River from Oregon. Vancouver is the largest city nearby.



They also met with some home builders and they're forming their opinion as to what they'd like, so it was a productive land hunt. Unfortunately for them, the piece of land they liked most has a really unpleasant neighbor.

Mom and Dad would like to visit again in February to check out the area when it's at its coldest.. you know, in the 40s. Doesn't hurt, anyway.

MAD COW DISEASE IN PACIFIC NORTHWEST

What on Earth is going on with Washington's agricultural sector?! It was reported that yesterday, the Yakima Valley has distinguished itself as being the first location of a case of Mad Cow Disease in the United States. Unfortunately, it looks like the meat of the animal passed through a Portland packing plant.. so the Feds are all over the place like Teamsters on a box of Krispy Kremes.

This is why Jill and I spend a little bit more money and shop at the healthy food store on organic/no-hormone/no-mass produced groceries, most grown here in Oregon. We double-checked the origins of our dairy and beef.. no worries! We're what you call Granola Conservatives!

But really.. Washington has been the origin of unpasteurized apple juice (e. coli outbreak) deaths, hamburger e. coli deaths at Jack-in-the-Box, and now this. What on earth are those people doing up there? Have Washingtonians not yet discovered the joys of handsoap? Make a trip to Target, people!

CHRISTMAS AT BAYLOR

My alma mater, good old Baylor U., produced a Christmas music special that's being broadcast on PBS stations nationwide. The link to information about the show is here.

It was very well done and highlighted the excellence of Baylor's School of Music. It was also fun to watch the locational shots of various places around campus.. heck, the music was so good it put Jill right to sleep!

The above link will let you know when it will be on TV where you live. I encourage you to watch it!

LAS VEGAS VACATED

Well, as of Wednesday, the Reids no longer live in Henderson, Nevada. After loading up a 24' U-haul truck, Tom, Kate & Mom drove the truck - Tom specifically - to Sacramento on Monday. I flew down to Sacramento Monday night (Dec. 1) to drive the truck up to Portland the next day.

The flight was interesting to say the least. It wasn't full, and after I sat down the Captain addressed the passengers instead of the flight attendant. Uh oh, this can't be good I thought to myself. After delivering a pair of time-worn California recall election jokes - "This is your captain, and I want you to know I recently lost the California recall election" and "Like Gary Coleman, I came up just a little bit short" - he delivered the news I was waiting for. Some aspect of the air conditioning system (?!) was malfunctioning, so we would not be able to fly above 24,000', roughly 10,000' below normal altitude. The scientific reason escapes me, so I won't even try to explain that one.

The bottom line is that the flight rumbled and bumped around like a high-speed roller coaster, only with a perfectly horizontal track for most of the ride. Nothing dramatic or scary, just non-stop and disconcerting enough to make you realize just how good you had it at 35,000'.

The drive from Sacramento to Portland was a long day, but for the most part, the weather was very cooperative. The best by far, ironically, was the Siskiyou Summit in the State of Jefferson. The clouds rolled back just north of Weed and we didn't see many again until the Rogue Valley in Oregon. We stopped to snap a photo of Mt. Shasta, which slowly became visible as its veil of clouds lifted with the sun. I snapped a photo, posted below.



We also made a stop in Medford to visit the Harry & David store where Mom stocked up on chocolate truffles and bought a decorative bench with a little girl and boy kissing, or something like that. We finally got into Portland a little after 7pm and given that we left Sacramento at 6:30am with a few stops along the way, I'd say that was pretty good time for a U-haul.

Once we arrived, however, I must have misunderstood the storage place because it was closed and we couldn't unload the truck. We saved that for the following day which took a few hours to complete. After we finished, took some items to Goodwill and then returned the truck, it was time for Mom to catch her plane to Vegas. All in all, it was a pretty smooth process.

Nobody knows when they will be shopping and buying a home up here, but I did find out today that they'll be driving over in the middle of next week for a short visit and to store some additional items. Sounds like a plan.

THANKSGIVING IN SAN ANTONIO

After a less-than-pleasant start (getting up at 3am to catch a 5:45am flight out of PDX - which was delayed and jumbled our reservations so we had to wheel and deal to sit next to each other), we got into San Antonio on Thanksgiving for a very nice visit with Jill's grandmother Charlotte, who I posted about last time. Jill's parents were already in San Antonio for a few days before we arrived.

Charlotte was in very good spirits and the visit was enjoyed by all. Even though she's off of some important medication temporarily due to the antibiotics, everything else seemed to be just fine. She did have some pain in her knee, though. But she managed to get around okay and we all went out to her favorite Chinese restaurant Saturday night - Kowloon - after which we got lost for about 15 minutes trying to get back to Art & Lorrae's. We won't mention who was leading the pack!



We got to play cards - rummy dum-dum - which Jill won consistently, even besting "Garbage Arm" Charlotte, who never met a discard she didn't like. Oh, well. Jill won a couple bucks that evening.

While we were there, we got to visit Market Square near downtown San Antonio. The area had a nice, old San Antonio feel - architecture, parks, features - but there more than a few shops with either overly expensive crap or really cheap crap. We didn't find much we were really interested in, unfortunately, but the experience and food were worth it.

We also got to visit the Peace Market held at Esperanza Peace & Justice Center in San Antonio. The market featured hand-made goods from San Antonio and various places in Latin America. I can't say we were tremendously impressed with most of the items there, but we did purchase a carved gourd from Peru that had a little story and illustrations carved into it. There were huipiles from Guatemala as well, but the prices they wanted were quite high - we must have a fortune in huipiles based on what we saw there. We'd rather go back to Guatemala and purchase them so that we know who got our money.

But overall, it was a great visit and it was very good to see Charlotte. It was obvious that having visitors made her feel a bit better.

TOM MISSES THE CALIFORNIA BAR EXAM BY 3 MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

That's right.. if Tom had answered three more multiple choice questions correctly, he could be practicing law in California. So close, it must be maddening. Well, it looks like he and Kate will be taking the Oregon bar exam in February. We look forward to the visit, however brief or long.