It’s been a bit slow here in blogspace since the holidays. A long bout with my finals, lots of last-minute Christmas shopping, and a sudden desire to take care of all the things that have gone long neglected during the semester have kept me from blogging much lately. As a bit of retrospective and just to catch you up, here’s the latest from the Walker family household.

We got a Gamecube for Christmas. When my mother and aunt were up from Sarasota during Thanksgiving, we did a bit of early Christmas celebration. My mom, aunt, and sister pooled their resources and landed us the desirable little gaming machine. It taunted me all December long as I drudged through exams, class projects and finals. I resisted its siren cry, though, and kept my nose planted firmly to the grindstone (grindstone, thy name is Line Integral!). Classwork behind me and Super Smash Bros. Melee in my possession (I have the coolest in-laws in the world), I’ve gleefully blown hours of time mastering Smash combos with Link.

Speaking of grades, the results are in: I’m an official college graduate. I finished up Numerical Analysis with an A and Calculus III with an unthinkable B. That the professor curved the grades is obvious, but the degree to which his system was skewed is staggering–I deserved nothing higher than a D+ in that class. Self-deprecation aside, these two classes were the absolute final requirements for my Bachelors in Computer Science. I walk in May, after which Sarah and I will throw the biggest Calculus book-burning party this old mining town has ever seen. Wanna come?

I have a theory about the NJ DMV. It goes like this: if your car is five years old or older, you will not pass inspection on the first try. You can take it in, freshly detailed and combed over by the mechanic, but if it was built before the ’00s, it will fail. They’ll find a hairline fracture in your windshield, a standard deviation of .01 from the norm in your suspension “bounce” test, a sharp edge on your tailpipe. Anything. My solution? If you’re going to fail, fail on your terms. Take a headlight out. Fail, fix the headlight and do the reinspection. Your mileage may vary, but my car is now street legal.

Sarah and I were welcomed as the newest members of the Village Church this weekend, too. Although the Session didn’t seem to have a problem with Sarah’s membership request (after all, she works at a horse hospital–what’s cooler than that?), my own total lack of coolness really jeopardized our chances. What tipped the scales in our favor, though, was the fact that the Village Church needs a web presence, which I’ve offered to do pro bono. Upon completion of the site, our membership will be up for review by committee and, provided that the site I help build doesn’t suck, we’ll have the opportunity to learn the secret handshake. I can’t wait.

Finally, Sarah and I are now the proud owners of the gentlest, most beautiful dog in the world, Dina. Dina’s previous owners, Dave and Cindy Abney, are some of the jazziest people we’ve ever met. They love animals, are incredibly hospitable, and their living room features an inscription hanging on the wall that asks, “What if the hokey-pokey is what it’s all about?” They’d had Dina for over two years and loved her dearly, but the recent birth of their twin boys seems to have instigated a rivalry between Dina and their oldest female dog, Emma. After the dogs’ second fight in front of the children, the Abneys knew they needed to find a new home for one of them. They chose Dina over Emma because Emma had been with them for over ten years and deserved to spend her last days with the family. After visiting with the Abneys and spending time getting to know Dina, they brought her over on New Year’s Eve to her new home. She is truly a great dog and we count ourselves blessed to have her. Pictures soon.