So, It’s snowing like mad! We’re supposed to get 2 to 4 inches, and it sure looks like we’ll get it.

Christmas has come and gone. Had a wonderful time. Spent quality time with family, watched the kids as they found Santa’s ashy footprints around the fireplace, watched them squeal as they opened presents and, even more moving for me, watched them beam with joy as others opened the gifts the kids had bought for them. They also found, outside, the chewed up remains of the carrots they’d left for the reindeer! It was VERY exciting.

Jeanne likes her iPod Nano, I filled it with a bunch of her music before I wrapped it. The kids and I also got her the new Harry Potter book, and I’m not afraid to admit that, between buying it and giving it to her, I sneakily read the thing! She’d go to work, or sleep, and I’d pull it out of hiding and read a chapter or two! (Hey, SHE got me re-addicted to the darn series, what’s a boy to do?!)

I got TiVo as my present from my aforementioned lovely wife, which I’m thrilled about! However, I’ve been so busy all week that I’m only right now getting around to hooking it up, and I’m annoyed, because I’m trying to set it up, and when it gets to the screen that says “Pick the cable provider for your area” my cable provider isn’t listed, and so I have to choose “Not Listed” and get told to call Customer Service, which is currently closed, and will open at 7am Pacific Time. *sigh* I’m not a patient man with this kind of crap! (One time, just once in my life, this type of thing will go smoothly and work the first time. It is at that moment that you will hear a giant scream of unbridled, astonished joy echo around the world.) So, maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to TiVo some shows! Or, since it’s a holiday weekend, I’ll probably have to wait until Monday. *sigh*

This week has been crazy. Signing for the building on Wednesday (Well, John did the signing – I did the witnessing and picture taking!). Then John, Chris, Emily and I had a big long productive meeting in our new building, which included a big champagne toast! The lease got signed. John and I drove to the building. We went in and said “Hey, this is ours!” John’s wife came by with some celebratory beers! (The champagne wasn’t cold yet!) We went out front to take the ‘for sale’ sign off of the building, but it was attached by screws. We checked our supply of tools – we had no Phillips screwdriver! (We have a whole toolchest full of donated tools – not a Phillips screwdriver in sight.) I went across the street to the very conveniently located hardware store. The wonderful woman who owns it, Barb, asked what we were doing. I told her, and she was thrilled to discover we were moving in – she knew our whole story and was excited to have us coming into town. Said “We’re on your email list, we got your wish list, and we’re working on getting some stuff together for you! We’ve got a bunch of stain and paint already, and let me know when you need to paint the theatre! Just tell me how many gallons of black you need, and you got it!” Then she gave me a screwdriver and wouldn’t let me pay for it. 30 seconds after I got the screwdriver back outside to John, she came running out of her store with another, better screwdriver. “This one’s got 4 interchangeable bits, it’ll be more useful! Take this one, and keep the other one, too, you’ll lose one of ’em!” We chatted with her while we took the sign down, and she congratulated us and disappeared back into her store, wishing us luck and telling us how glad she was that we were moving into town. Needless to say, that was a pretty great moment for us!

We’ve been moving stuff into the building and, since I can, here’s a picture of what my new office currently looks like! Lots of changes will happen, it’s pretty empty right now, but you can see I’ve already got a desk in place and my 12 month calendar pasted up on the wall! First thing tomorrow, that ugly border along the ceiling comes down!!

And in about 23 hours, it’ll be a new year. 2006.

There’ve been a lot of “year in review” things going around Live Journal and the web. I don’t think I’m up for doing one, not yet. Too many changes happening right now, too much going on. Maybe a few more days, to digest the experience of moving into the building with the theatre, taking that next step. Maybe then I’ll be able to compile some thoughts about the year. We’ll see.

For now, though…the snow is nice to look at. In the morning, I’ll call TiVo customer support. Then I’m driving to Williamston to show my brother the new Williamston Theatre building, and get a little work done.

So. 2005?
I guess it was pretty good.
But right now, 2006 is looking great.