I flew down to PR a few days ago for Christmas, and I've really been enjoying being home. I was introduced to Natalia's new puppy, Lena, who is adorable. She's eager and affectionate, even with strangers, and full of the energy and exuberance puppies are so known for. She's awesome.

Andrés is here too, and we've been spending time with some cool people. One day we hung out on the back patio, drank wine, and got in the pool with Jóse and Lorena. Another day we cooked food and watched Family Guy with Marc, and today Andrés, Michelle, Billy, Natalia, and I went to the beach. Going to the beach on Christmas Eve: OK, so maybe there are a few good things about this island.

I don't think I mentioned it here before, but I got a lockpick set last month and I've been working on learning to pick locks. I bought a few locks to practice on — I can now open a luggage lock in seconds, and I can get into my practice deadbolt in a minute or two. The one that's still stumping me is the Master #1 lock — I've opened it five or six times, but it's usually by accident and only after twenty minutes of trying.

Anyway, today I started showing Natalia the basics. She actually managed to open the luggage lock twice after a few minutes of playing with it — perhaps she has a future in cat burglary. Or security, of course.

Now it's time to sleep and dream of Santa, who, in contrast with some recent rumours, was not invented by the Coca Cola company.