Why, Happy New Year, dear readers! I’m at the dining room table, listening to Tift Merritt, drinking diet coke, and burning copies of the new eels for friends across the nation. And how are you? Let us not address my absence...let it exist as a “lost period” in my blog existence.

Ok, forget it, might as well talk about the last couple months. I wasn’t avoiding anything, ladies and gentlemen, but I wrote other letters, missives, academic prose, etc. And maybe I needed a blog break. I’m making excuses, am I not?

Ok, before I forget, my 2009 book list…

1. Architecture of Happiness-Alain de Botton
2. Waiting for the Barbarians-J.M. Coetzee
3. Revolutionary Road-Richard Yates
4. The Soul Thief-Charles Baxter
5. Leaving Microsoft to Change the World-John Wood
6. Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World-Haruki Murakami
7. Bangkok 8-John Burdett
8. Made in America-Bill Bryson
9. Candyfreak-Steve Almond
10. A Cook’s Tour-Anthony Bourdain
11. Twilight-Stephenie Meyer
12. Dreamers-Knut Hamsun
13. Eleanor Rigby-Doug Coupland
14. Jewish Messiah-Arnon Grunberg
15. The Gum Thief-Doug Coupland
16. Selected Stories-Robert Walser
17. Odd Man Out-Matt McCarthy
18. Instant Enemy-Ross Macdonald
19. Hidden Camera-Zoran Zivkovic
20. After the Plague TC Boyle
21. Tunneling to The Center of the Earth: Stories Kevin Wilson
22. A Sorrow Beyond Dreams Handke
23. The Moving Target Ross Macdonald
24. For Whom The Bell Tolls Ernest Hemingway
25. Cooperstown Confidential: Heroes, Rogues, and the Inside Story of the Baseball Hall of Fame Zev Chafets
26. Death of Bunny Munro Nick Cave
27. Down the Rabbit Hole Peter Abrahams
28. Gregor the Overlander Suzanne Collins
29. All Families are Psychotic Doug Coupland
30. IV Chuck Klosterman
31. Bangkok TattooJohn Burdett
32. Eating the Dinosaurs Chuck Klosterman
33. The Crystal World, JG Ballard
34. I Drink for a Reason, David Cross

My favorite book of the year was Robert Walser’s Selected Stories. Thanks, Matty, for the tip. I owe you one. For Whom The Bell Tolls was also excellent. I was more or less classic-free this year but I loved the Hemingway. Ross Macdonald was a revelation, too. I’ll be reading more of him soon. The Jewish Messiah was brilliant, too, in the darkest sense of the term.

I read a little less non-fiction (9 of 34) this year. I acquired 23 of 34 from the library.

And what else has been going on? Shall we reply on bullet points?

• I’ll miss Vic Chesnutt. Rest in peace, sir.
• The dogs are doing well. They’re still spazzy, so don’t over unless you can handle spazzy dogs, but they’re fun dogs. Pete went through a stretch when he decided biting N and S’s hair was a fun way to get them to play. They were not amused. But right now Mack is on the couch chewing a toy football and Pete is looking out the backyard. Hold on, I’ll let him out. Now they’re both outside.
• The temps are low today but the winter has been mild. I remember last year this week was worse. Shadow was dying, too. One year since she’s gone.
• A pipe burst under our sidewalk yesterday. The repair guy (M knows him) is estimating 2 grand for the fix. You know, I get Zen calm when this type of minor tragedy occurs. Not sure why. Nothing you can do, you know? We live pretty cheaply, and we’ll live cheaper the next couple months. I take a personal pride/challenge in living cheaper when necessary. Bring on the library books and bag lunches. The timing is good, actually, with Christmas finished and the property taxes in the books.
• Christmas went well, by the way. The boys are enamored with their new Wii and DS games. N also likes this little Hex Bug Nano mechanical insects that scuttle around their habitat. I don’t feel as if we bought them as much as usual but they didn’t mind/notice.
• M visited her mom in NJ for two days this past week. Apparently Mrs. K. is on the cusp of remarrying a guy named Jim who some of the extended family kids call “Mr. Jim.” That sounds awfully weird to me. I already told the boys they could call him Jim. Dan and I also agreed “Nana and Mr. Jim” would be a great ska band name, esp. if Mr. Jim was a 300 pound guy in a bowler who didn’t sing or play an instrument but instead danced on the side of the stage.
• This semester was decent. The U is struggling economically and gossip was plentiful (the president resigned under what I assume to be pressure) but I stayed out of the way for the most part. The associate dean standoff continues. We’ll see. I don’t know if I should care or not. I know I could handle the gig but do I want it? If the promises made don’t come to pass what does that mean for my standing in the U culture? I’ll breathe through the possibilities and weigh my options. Life is good.
• I’m scheduled to take a class called “Theology of Church” on Monday nights this spring. What the hell? I can take the course for free and I suppose I need grad credits for recertification.
• The boys are good. Oh, N had an awesome first few months of first grade. He’s reading on the high end of the benchmarks and his math is way promising, too. His teacher is very cool and his confident is improving. T and S continue strong as well. T won his fifth grade geography bee.
• This is starting to sound like a holiday letter. My bad.
• I’ve been listening to The Mountain Goats lately. Some songs on “We Shall All Be Healed” kill me every time.
• I’ve been sleeping off and on in the upstairs closet. Hear me out. First, while M was out of town I cleaned a ton, including that space, and now the closet looks more like a very small spare bedroom with hanger space. Second, the radiator keeps the closet warm, the warmest room in the house. If I can move the clothes into alternative areas I may pull out the closet organizers and install a desk. Wouldn’t that be cool?

Ok, that’s enough for now, ladies and gentlemen. Have a good second day of the year. More later.