"The less you talk, the more you're listened to." - Pauline Phillips

Do you think I can get Pam to go along with this?

Greg Popovich, speaking about giving back to the community, said, "Because we're rich as hell and we don't need it all."
Methinks he should be a little more specific with his use of the word "we."

Today I learned that in his famous Fifth Symphony (you know; it's the one that starts "dum dum dum DUM") he used that four note theme 38 times throughout the symphony. And each time he introduces a new musical theme he puts that four note riff in the background.
I thought that was interesting. If you don't, well, it's OK. I'm kind of a music nerd.

And I'm looking forward to Saturday afternoon when we'll go see The Barber of Seville, being put on by the Eugene Opera.

Sunday after church we're going to a family's home for lunch. We don't really know them (I don't even know their last name); we've just talked to them a few times. They're new to Eugene and the church and we've tried to engage them in an effort to be...nice. She's a H.S. math teacher (I'm not holding that against her) and he tests instruments that go into jet planes. They have three daughters.
This could be a lot of fun or really awkward. I'm going into it assuming it will be the former, that they're not ax murderers, and we'll find plenty of stuff to talk about.
Spiritual family.

We're going through the details of planning dad's memorial service, figuring out what to do with his stuff, and the best way to take care of mom now.
Mark lives there so most of the burden for all of that falls (unfairly) on him. Scott, in Spokane, is perhaps the most organized, so he's providing counsel on tasks and sequence.
Me? I'm cheering them on and trying to stay out of the way.

Both our sons are coming up from Phoenix to Seattle for the memorial service on Jan. 11.
When I learned that I felt my stomach come up to my eyes.
Family.

My brain is fried. After about six more hours of work today I've finally finished going through all of the recommended changes to my manuscript from the four content readers. It was harder work than I expected for several reasons. What one reviewer found helpful another thought confusing or lacking a biblical basis. All of them made a valuable contribution to the effort and I'm truly grateful for their input. It's just been mentally grueling to track, collate, assess, and incorporate the changes I thought appropriate.

Over the next two days I'll give each of their annotated manuscripts another look and check against my document and then clean up some formatting issues. By Monday I've promised I'll send it to the two saints who are going to edit it for grammar, syntax, and other matters of form per "The Christian Writer's Manual of Style." I can NOT imagine the tedium of that task nor understand their willingness to do this for me.

Next week I'm meeting with the gal who's doing the cover design to finalize that part of the effort.

After all, people do often judge a book by its cover.

So close. March?