Happy New Year

Wow! Where did 2005 go? Seems like it just zoomed past at "warp speed" as they used to say on Star Trek.

I've been busy this last week having fun with my daughter and son-in-law who are visiting from the Los Angeles area.

They gave us a digital camera for Christmas, so I'll gradually be learning how to include pictures here. Yay!

Drove over to visit my uncle and cousins in southern-central Tennessee on Monday. Had a fine time visiting with them and stopped in Lynchburg to tour the Jack Daniel's distillery on the way home yesterday.

I never knew so much went into making whiskey. And they recycle everything...and I do mean every-thing. Right down to the charcoal and the barrels. The charcoal gets compressed with sawdust to make smoke nuggets for using in home food smokers (imagine the taste of that 140 proof whiskey as it permeates a nice chunk of salmon! Yum!)

The barrels, which are only used once, are sold and people use them for everything from planters to making "swoosh". To make swoosh, you fill a used barrel with spring water and let it sit for several days. The water leaches out the leavings from the whiskey making process and flavors the water. If it was me, I'd use that swoosh to make things like lemonade, hot toddies, and tea--hot or iced.

My dear daughter discovered there is a Waffle House chocolate pie famine in the state of Georgia. On the way home she decided she needed a slice. Four stops between Acworth and Atlanta and not one slice to be bought. She had to settle for a Krispy Kreme donut. (chocolate glazed custard filled).

Not much news on the job front. I had an interview last Friday. Things look very promising. They want to hire me, but it's up to Dr. D as to whether or not he's going to make a deal with them to send all his patients to New Lab. If so, then I'll be managing a Patient Service Center. If not, then there's a doctor's office in a nearby community where they can use me. So, one way or the other, I'll most likely be back to sucking blood after my cruise.

Son-in-Law and I had a nice long chat on the ride home last night. He helped me plot out my next novel! There were some sticking points that I'd been having trouble with and he gave me some brilliant ideas. Gotta love that kid!

Finally--New Year's Resolutions: Are you for 'em or agin' 'em?

I'm not much for making them...I figure if you want to do something badly enough, you don't have to wait for a specific date on a calendar to do it. But recently, I decided I'd had it up to my eyeballs with negativity, so I decided that I was going to start thinking positive and banish negative thoughts from my brain. Except when it comes to things like mammogram and pap results, of course!