In case you’re like me, and missed it, you should know that Miles released episode one of The Better Ninja over at Isometric, and it’s great. Fantastic work by both Miles and Zach, and it looks like the series is only going to get better. Go check it out now! Then you can say “I knew Miles back when he was a two-bit hack, who didn’t even animate in 24 full frames a second, and his stuff was STILL better than most big-budget movies!”

Surreal moment of the day: Rocketing down I-5 at 35 miles an hour, looking to the right and noticing that we’re PASSING someone.

In case you haven’t heard, we’re getting a bit of snow out here. It’s always nice to get some snow in the Portland area, since we hardly ever do, but I have to admit it was kind of nerve-wracking to drive from Olympia to Portland in constant snowfall.

We basically just dropped our speed to around 45 MPH, and stayed behind semi trucks as much as possible. Their tracks were frequently the only indicator of where to drive in the road, so 3-lane freeways were reduced to single lanes. The funny thing was that the truckers obviously didn’t have much of a better idea where the lane edges were because every 30 seconds or so, you’d feel the stay-awake bumps on the lane markers go under your tires.

It wasn’t too bad, though, all things considered. The car worked great with the new brakes that Mr. Stockman put on the rear wheels, and the windshield wipers were working again, which was good or we wouldn’t have been going anywhere. We had a good Seattle radio station on, which kept reception all the way from Tacoma to Kelso, at which point we finally had to tune into a Portland station (not as good).

It was nice and toasty inside the car, and we even made a nice stop at a rest area, where we took advantage of the free coffee, cocoa and cookies.

We only saw one actual wreck, though admittedly that was like five cars involved. All the others were just single cars which had driven off the road.

All said, it wasn’t bad, but we’re definitely glad to be home.

I’m still in Washington! Annie and I were going to do our usual Christmas Eve with her family and Christmas Day with my family. She drove Eric and Jill’s car up earlier in the week, and we hung out with her family the whole time. Christmas Eve was great, and Christmas morning we got up and had fun and packed the car. Annie wanted to move the car so we could pack more easily, when she noticed that there was no resistance on the brake pedal.

So her dad checked it out, and discovered that the rear brakes were completely shot, and all the brake fluid had drained into the wheel wells. So, Annie jumped on a train this morning to go home so she could make her scheduled work shifts, while I hang out up here, until the car is fixed (truthfully, I could catch a train, but I can work from up here, and I already missed Christmas with my family, so I’m not in a huge rush to get home).

This in addition to the debacle with the windshield wipers have added up to a pretty unpleasant car experience this holiday.

Still, as many people have pointed out, we’re both safe and warm, and we didn’t get stranded on the freeway, or worse yet, get involved in a wreck due to our brakes.

I know we didn’t get to do a portland christmas thing with people going all over the place, but I wanted to let y’all know we love you and hope your year has been as awesome as ours has! perhaps we should think about new years??? hmmmmm

anyways, hope everyone has a fun christmas and we’ll see ya soon!

–Annie & Scott

“You are old, father William,” the young man said,
“And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head –
Do you think, at your age, it is right?”

“In my youth,” father William replied to his son,
“I feared it would injure the brain;
But now that I’m perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again.”

“You are old,” said the youth, “as I mentioned before,
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door –
Pray, what is the reason of that?”

“In my youth,” said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
“I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment — one shilling the box –
Allow me to sell you a couple.”

“You are old,” said the youth, “and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak –
Pray, how did you manage to do it?”

“In my youth,” said his father, “I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life.”

“You are old,” said the youth; one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose –
What made you so awfully clever?”

“I have answered three questions, and that is enough,”
Said his father; “don’t give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I’ll kick you down stairs!”

– Lewis Carroll (1832-1898)