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.

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I haven't been spending any time on the computer lately, so I thought I'd make a short post explaining what I've been up to. Andrés and my cousin Mia flew down last week for a visit, and then I had my last day of work on Sunday night. Since then I've been packing up my stuff, trying to sell my car, and spending time with Andrés and Mia. We've hung out with Michelle, Andrea, Isa, and Jose. Today I went back to "The Spot" with Andrés, Mia, and Michelle. The water was much higher and rougher, and there were two other guys there this time, so it wasn't the placid, relaxed, isolated experience that the first visit was. Still, it was a good time, and many pictures were taken.

Andrés and Mia leave on Sunday and Monday, respectively, and then I'll have two days to feverishly get the last of my stuff shipped up to New Orleans before I fly up myself on Thursday.

Natalia's class is doing that thing where you sell wrapping paper and peanut brittle and stuff to earn prizes. This morning she brought me the catalog to see if I wanted to buy anything. I pointed to one of the kids on the front cover and asked, "How much is that?"

She gave me a look that said, "Quit fooling around", and I retorted, "What? I need a personal slave!" Her expression grew horrified, and I looked down and realized the kid I was pointing at was black. Oh my. :) Damn you, blacks, for ruining a totally hilarious joke with your slavery!

I picked up the Evo from the body shop a week after dropping it off. They did a good job. It's so nice to have the car whole again.

Amy graduated last week, so on Monday night she and Andrés planned to fly down to PR for a two-week visit before going up to Boston to find a place to live. However, their flight out of Chicago was cancelled due to bad weather, and the next flight didn't leave until the next morning, so they had to spend the night there. And apparently, the airline won't give you a hotel room for the night if the flight was cancelled due to weather, so they had to find and pay for one themselves. Fair or unfair? (All) Unfair!

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Natalia and her friends are having a sleepover here tonight. I conversed with her and a friend as I got some food from the kitchen.

Dan: What are you guys doing tonight?
Natalia: We're having a Girl Scouts sleepover. Fifteen girls, not including me.
Dan: Is that including me, though?
Natalia: No! You're not a girl!
Dan: Hey! I could be. I look great in a dress, I'll have you know.
Natalia: No you don't! You look ugly in a dress.
Natalia's Friend: Don't you mean he would look ugly in a dress? You haven't actually seen him in one.
Natalia: Yes, I have. Believe me, he looks ugly.

I like to imagine what kind of household her friend must think we have.

Yesterday at the Girl Scouts meeting, Natalia and her friend Anna Sofia were "Junior Aides" — they were in charge of teaching a class of Brownies about Girl Scouts around the world. One of the things they had to do was teach them a song or story from a different country, and a few days earlier she asked if I knew any. I told her that actually I did — there was a song about a bunny we learned in Japanese class called 'Usagi Usagi.' I agreed to come to the meeting and teach the girls the song, and Natalia brought a picture book I brought her from Japan that had pictures of bunnies in it. Mami came to help out, and she took some pictures while I taught them the song.

The kids picked up the song pretty fast, especially considering they're like six years old. They didn't really get the melody right, but it's difficult since it uses a scale that is uncommon in Western music. I remember my Japanese class practicing the song over and over before we got it down, so the fact that six-year-olds learned it at all is quite impressive. It was also very cute to see these tiny little kids singing about bunnies hopping.

So today is Three Kings' Day, the day when the three wise men come and leave presents under the tree while you sleep. When I left for work last night I saw the box of grass Natalia had gathered for the camels, and when I returned in the morning there was the inevitable trail of grass clippings leading out the door (it is a little known fact that camels are inconsiderate, messy eaters).

It has always surprised me how blithely children accept this holiday. Shouldn't it trouble little girls to know that strange men can just walk into their house uninvited while they sleep? Maybe I've just lost my innocence.

Dublin was fun, though not as enjoyable for me as the countryside. The high point for me, of course, was the Guinness Storehouse. But that came last.

We got up this morning at 7am (OK, it became more like 8:15am) to eat a quick breakfast and catch the "hop-on, hop-off" tour bus that stopped at our hotel at 9. We got off at the first stop, near the General Post Office where the IRA siezed the building in 1916 and declared independence from Ireland (and were subsequently shelled into submission). It also happened to be the location of the 400' Metal Spike Of Annihilation, to my glee.

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Tonight my family and I had dinner with my grandparents. At one point, my parents were trying to think of other shows my grandfather might like (he is obsessed with Everybody Loves Raymond but by now he has seen every episode twice). As my parents listed show after show, Natalia and I quickly tuned it out. Then my grandmother said, "What about that one show I've heard about, Sex And The City?"

Natalia instantly perked up and said, "Did someone say Sesame Street?"

Hehe, no, Natalia, sorry. Not quite.

The last portion of my birthday present finally arrived in the mail yesterday: The Complete Calvin And Hobbes. My god is it massive. The shipping label says it's 24 lb. I guess this isn't a book to carry around in your bookbag and read on the subway; it's more of a book to sit down at a (sturdy) table with a glass of port for a reading session.

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Lately I've had a growing interest in experimenting with filmmaking. I'm familiar with the basic editing techniques, so I think I should be able to figure that part out with little trouble. The part that sounds more fun is the shooting itself. The problem, of course, is that unlike photography, filmmaking is more often fictional. You come up with a story and then interpret it for the camera. Photography can more often be about capturing what already exists.

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I've always liked Red Chair Software, the company who makes Notmad Explorer, the software I use to transfer files to my MP3 player. Their software is way more intuitive than Creative's own software, plus they have fast service and are very helpful. This weekend I was reminded of all these things.

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Yesterday I took Natalia MP3 player shopping. She's been dutifully saving her allowance for five or six months, and she had finally saved up around $150. It was past my 10am bedtime, but she was really excited about going to get it, so I agreed to take her to buy it. We discussed what features she wanted, and at first it sounded like the iPod Shuffle would be an acceptable compromise, so we headed to CompUSA, the only store that had the Shuffle in stock. When we got the store and she saw it in person, though, she decided she wanted a player with a screen. I was impressed that she was mature enough to make that decision, even though that probably meant we'd have to mail-order it instead of taking it home that day (there isn't much selection in PR, since there's no Best Buys or Circuit Cities).

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When Andrés got down here last Monday, he finally convinced me to start running, and we've gone running around the neighborhood nearly every day since he arrived. There is a one-mile-long loop around my block, so for now we've just been doing one lap of that each day. I'm already noticing a difference; the first day, I ended up walking most of the way, and it took us something like 15-20 minutes to make it around the block. Yesterday, we jogged nearly all of it, stopping only twice to walk and catch our breaths, and it only took about 9 minutes. It's a challenge to overcome my aversion every day and force myself to go running, but it feels good later to know that you've done something worthwhile, and it's satisfying to see the improvement in ability. It has helped a lot to have Andrés pushing me each day when I resist, and by now I think I've got the momentum required, so it should be no problem to keep it up once he leaves on Friday. Perhaps I should wire something up so that you can give me an electric shock by clicking a button on my website, so people can punish me if I start to slack off in the future :)

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Last night I had made plans to hang out with Michelle, but my parents needed me to watch Natalia for a few hours, so we looked for ideas for things we could both do. Natalia mentioned that she still wanted to see Hitchiker's Guide, which I wholeheartedly support. However, the website was out of date, and it turned out that the only theater listed that was supposedly still showing it in fact wasn't. Instead, Natalia suggested we go to the little amusement park next to Montehiedra (shows who is really in charge of the evening). Michelle was all for the idea, so she came over and we headed off.

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Natalia and I just had a discussion about the pros and cons of vegetarianism. I was in the kitchen looking for food and she suggested I have a rib sandwich and I reminded her that I'm a vegetarian now. She explained why she thinks that it's a bad idea: "At school we're learning about the food chain. You know how the sun gives energy to the grass, and then the grass gets eaten by an insect or something, and then the insect gets eaten by a snake, and then humans eat the snake to get energy? If you don't eat meat then you don't get the energy." I replied, "Well, why not skip the snake and the insect and go straight to, well not the grass but things like vegetables? That way you still get the energy and the snake doesn't have to die." She said, "Oh yeah! So I guess I do want to be a vegetarian when I grow up" (my mom won't let her become one at this age since she is still growing and good nutrition is crucial).

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The week with Meg and Amy was awesome. I didn't get to write about it until a while later, because I immediately left for the Cedar Point trip, so details are kind of sketchy in my memory now, but I wanted to get something down about it.

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In a fit of nostalgia, I was watching old home videos and rediscovered one Andrés and I recorded around 1997 of ourselves playing music. We were tasked with watching Natalia, who was about 2 years old at the time. So she was walking around the room, apparently diaperless, and occasionally yelling out her babytalk backup vocals. However, our playing was interrupted by this event (5mb Xvid video). Babies are so lovably not in control of their body parts.

Yeah, so she's going to hate me. We mentioned the existence of this video to her a few months ago on our trip to DisneyWorld, and her embarassment was obvious; she demanded I destroy the tape. I tried to console her by explaining that we all have our embarassing moments; Andy ate poop, for example. She was not mollified. Oh well, hopefully by the time she is old enough to use the internet, this will have been posted so long ago that I can say, "it was a different time then!" as I shakily fend off her attacks with my cane.