January is No. 1!

Remember this?

Well, it turns out January is a good month for writers named Doyle and a bad month for governors named Blagojevich. I managed to avoid impeachment and now have new representation--a seasoned, well-regarded agent who is excited about my manuscript.

But it gets better. I also had absinthe... in a pirate (!) bar... in New Orleans' French Quarter. And booked tickets to India to attend one of these.

The year is off to a great start.

Another reason why 2008 was the most funnest general election ever

Anyone, from the loftiest politician to the lowliest 1993 Center High School student, could be a part of the atmosphere of historicity and changiness.

High school yearbooks are all about hope and change.

Yes, that IS a Van Halen T-shirt. It just proves that real, substantive change is possible. Come on, I'll bet Barack Obama didn't look great in all his high school photos, either.

If you want to take a whack at iconifying yourself, the folks at Paste Magazine can hook you up with their "Obama.me" site. Enjoy. And God bless America.

So this is what normality feels like

Today marks the first time in years when I have come into work before noon. Today I was actually here before the sun came up--not that you could tell, what with the Great Snowstorm of Aught-Nine burying the city at the moment.

Anyway, it's an interesting experience. For one thing, the cafeteria makes decent breakfast sandwiches. For another, coffee feels much more appropriate and much less like I am feeding some kind of an addiction. (And for the record, I can so totally quit any time I want.)

With any luck, I can stay awake long enough to enjoy a free Friday night.

And... we're back

Right. Holidays, familial visits, long stretches in front of the television, the first day of school... all of those things have pulled me away from the Internet.

But now I'm back.

School is going to be interesting this quarter. The setup has been rejiggered so that I am doing a lot more lecturing, or as I like to call it, "teaching." It's challenging and, if I ignore the fact that my students will have better academic credentials than I will when I'm done with them, it's a lot of fun.

Is 'due to' an adjective or an adverb? Bueller? Bueller?

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, happy new year!