Some news! My sister (above) somehow scammed her way into this New York City diploma-mill popularly known as "Columbia University." Seriously though, this is exciting stuff. She's definitely moving out there along with her man Scott, and is still waiting to hear from some other schools, but Columbia's MFA Writing program is, as they say, prestigious. So things are looking good. I always knew she'd pass me on the achievement ladder one of these days, dammit.

Also, somewhat selfishly, this is a great reason to get back east more often. I can feel the sweet embrace of her couch already.

For my part, I spent Sunday - Wednesday down and back to the Bay area. It was all business, so not that much fun, but I got the work done and for the first time I tried my new plan of bringing the bike with me and using that to get around the city. Weather was lovely, and it worked out great until I got hit by a car in Oakland: some kid who was already fleeing a hit-and-run with a parked car. I'm fine and so's my machine, but it was close to being awful. Ironically, one of the bits of business I was dealing with was filing for our company health insurance. Cheap thrills.

On the five-hour drive back, I thought a lot about this whole urban/rural living thing I have going on. I've been missing NYC a lot lately, and I've also been pondering what it would take to make living here more sustainable. Girl(s), obviously, but there's also a level of peer-review that I miss, a community of people who I share some ambitions with.

It's proving harder to make those kinds of connections. I don't really do that well at meeting new people without a context, and it's a smaller pool. People seem private though. I don't know if it's just the way of country life, or if, as someone recently pointed out, there are proportionately more people here who are stoned out of their minds at any given point.

I'm at the bar at Rose City at PDX, loving the free wifi (every airport should do that; they'd see a bump in food/drink sales as a result) and I was just enjoying the scenery across the bar. Portland is a hipster capital, and I have to admit I do love that style on the women.

My "vacation," which has been roughly the past week and will run through the 1st, has been nice. I had big dreams of hitting the Y a lot, getting my body prepped for a higher level in 2007, but I'm more like my mom than I admit -- genetics is a real thing -- and so we spent most days perched across from one another at her high-tables working on our laptops, eating pizza and drinking beer into the night. I wish I had a picture. It was nice, but also sort of the antithesis of getting to the gym and hitting the stationary cycle.

On the upside, I did some good work on Chapter Three's first non-client project -- alpha launch coming in early Jan -- and I also started my open-source community service effort for 2007, the Drupal Dojo:

It's basically a place for up-and-coming developers to rub elbows with more experienced types in a less intimidating setting, to help be a middle-ground in the burgeoning Drupal economy. I launched it about 24 hours ago and already we have more than 100 members. Oh boy.

Great Success! Me and Brie went in together on a travel voucher to sent mom back to France sometime -- because if we get her the ticket she has to go -- and I cooked up a pretty fine meal (bacon-wrapped steaks, shallot/shitake sautee, garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus and spinach ceasar salad) and dined it up with the Grams and everything. It was a lovely adult night.

I'm off on the road to Oregon. Gonna see my mom and grandma and maybe some more extensive family for the Xmas time. Strange how my perception of this season has evolved. I still dig the spirit, but the importance of that one day has pretty much evaporated, probably will stay that way until I have my own kids to bedazzle.

I'll be riding with Mark and Zya, who are going to Eugene, then Portland, then Texas for the holiday. Texas being an escape from all family and a chance to get a little lone-star adventure.

Me, I'm trying to make it back to NYC for New Years. We'll see how that goes.

Probably light posting for the next week or two, although maybe a redesign will happen.

This is the first time I've been down to LA under my own power. Previous trips were at the outset of Vagabender and way back in 1994 when my dad took me and the step-fam down for the Rose Bowl.

It's an interesting place. Lots of bright colors, flash, sizzle, spectacle. It's structurally totally distinct, but reminds me of NYC more than any other city I've been in lately. Something about the international diversity, the smell of a liquor store/deli, the type and tone of affluence...

Tonight I hung out with Julia and my sister. We chatted it up, watched a little Wheel of Fortune, had two beers (one at a depressing bar, the other judgemental) and told some old stories. It was nice. I'm totally beat from the 4am wakeup for the 6am plane ride down here.

Tomorrow 6am flight to Los Angeles, there to stay with my sis, do a little biz, hang out with some friends, and attend my niece's Bat Mitzvah.

It's been freezing cold (literally) up here in the State of Jefferson, so 70 degree weather sounds like fun to me.

Was nice having my sister up here for the Thanksgiving weekend.

Reminds me of another classic.

As you can see, we're still the same wacky kids.