Bit of a departure for today's entry. I'm writing this one at work, but emailing it to myself at home to save a bit of time. So excuse the rushed feel, and any speeling mistaeks (!) that I may make.

It snowed around six inches last night. I've been quite happy with the weather so far... I wouldn't mind it if we had tropical weather but this is the Northeastern United States and this is January. So snow it is. My sister (Wendy) tells me they have cold and snowy weather back in England. Even sent me pictures at work to show how snowy. Welcome to the Ice Age, sis.

Did I tell you that I got an unexpected promotion? Bit of a weird thing, but I was given a new Quality Control job within the company. Don't know what the pay increase will be because it's all tied in with the annual increase and nobody in the company seems to know what that is or when that will happen. At least the raise is retro-active, and I have been working a bit of overtime the last few weeks so it all adds up.

Not that money makes me happy. Being happy makes me happy, money just keeps the landlord, electric and gas companies off my back in the great scheme of things. As Lao Tzu said, he who knows he has enough is a rich man. That's me.

I came to a decision the other day. I left education too early. Sixteen is a fine age to start working full time if your school highlights were a C+ in woodwork and an A in bullying, but someone with 8 'O' Levels should have gone further in academia. There's a local college that does Associates and Batchelor's Degree courses on Saturdays and I know what I like (technical stuff, anything that can couple that with an artistic flair) so I'm keeping an eye open for courses that include web design or CAD. Something like that. Look; if I'm going to be in the workforce for the next 30 years or so, I may as well use the brain I have to do a better job for more money.

Politics is getting exciting over here. I've been posting on the Al Franken Web Forum (he's a comedian-cum-politico, and a funny author to boot). Looks like the political apathy of the last few years has been roused by Bush's mishandling of foreign and domestic affairs.

Listen : Vaseline - Elastica.

Happy New Year, and a happy 34th birthday to me (tomorrow).

Beth loves her sapphire and diamond necklace. Made from manufactured gems instead of mined ones... but I'd rather give the money to someone in a lab than a crimelord in the Democratic (ha!) Republic (double ha!) of Congo. Along with the usual fine trappings of the holiday season I got The Big Box Of Art. It's probably the geekiest thing I could ever have received ("hey, 215,000 images on 24 CDs? GREAT!") but I love it. Here's an example of how totally inclusive it is. Say your kid is doing an essay on architecture in Hong Kong. Great, your kid is a genius, but where do you find good quality photos like that at this time of day? I just checked... I have 267 images relating to Hong Kong, 33 of those are black and white photos and 17 of those are close-up views of buildings. I have no idea when I personally would ever find a use for a b&w photo of a building in Hong Kong (or an animated GIF of a walking tree for that matter) but it still fascinates me and I have them if I need them.

Just want to say that if you drank too much this New Year's Eve you might want to consider a subscription to Modern Drunkard Magazine. Or maybe you just need to ease up there, sunshine...

Listen : Happy Birthday - Altered Images ... Speak In Sympathy (Original Mix) - Solar Stone feat. Liz Fields