Happy New Year!

Happy new year, everyone! I'll be undergoing minor surgery this month, so there will likely be an interregnum in entries. Please bear with it, and I'll try to get under full steam again by February.

In the meantime:

2003: A retrospective.

Books: I read no unworthy books this year. Every book I read had some meaty element to it. Nevertheless, five books stood out:

• Writing Los Angeles, edited by David L. Ulin
• Mapping Mars, by Oliver Morton
• Oranges, by John McPhee
• Thurber: Writings and Drawings, by James Thurber
• Carter Beats the Devil, by Glen David Gold

Here are the rest:

• Best American Science Writing 2002, Matt Ridley (ed.)


• Salt: A History, by Mark Kurlansky


• Catch Me If You Can, by Frank Abegnale, Jr.


• The Silent Takeover, by Noreen Hersh


• The Founding Fish, by John McPhee


• Year's Best Science Fiction, 19th ed., Gardner Dozois (ed.)


• Summerland, by Michael Chabon


• Fallen Dragon, by Peter Hamilton


• Best American Magazine Writing 2002, ASME (ed.)


• Mathematics and Humor, by John Allen Paulos


• Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, by Cary Doctorow


• Gun, with Occasional Music, by Jonathan Lethem


• Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor E. Frankl


• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling


• The Compleat Meadmaker, by Ken Schramm


• The Best Newspaper Writing 2002, Keith Woods (ed.)


• Game Inventor's Guidebook, by Brian Tinsman


• The Odd Todd Handbook, by Todd Rosenberg


• Living with Books, by Alan Powers


• After the Plague, by T.C. Boyle


• Collected Works of Arthur C. Clarke, by Arthur C. Clarke


• Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones


• Atonement, by Ian McEwan


• Now, Discover Your Strengths, by Marcus Buckingham & Donald Clifton

Games: We had only three game nights this year. They were each fun, but that's far too few. We plan on hosting many more in 2004. The only standout game this year was Blokus, a devious little connection game. This year we'll be exploring more traditional games; in fact, our first (mini) game night will be tomorrow, where we'll be playing Poker.

Once again, it's time to look at my projects from last year. Where have I succeeded, where am I behind, and does it really matter?

Project Castle: The study will be completely redesigned this year. I've already got the design worked out. More news as it occurs.

Project Briar Patch: A stunning success. My work at ACT-1 is close to home, and helps the local community. I'm devoting more time to politics, and will be campaigning for the Democrats until the November election this year.

Project Ellington: Still no progress. I know about 2.5 songs on the piano. I'm continuing this project for 2004, and hope to learn two jazz standards on the piano by 2005.

Project Labyrinth: I've learned the Butterfly moves, but have not progressed further. My goal for 2004: Learn the basic moves of contact juggling.

Project Green Thumb, Part III: I installed drip irrigation, and it works great! Goal for this year: Grow some hops on the balcony, and convert some of the downstairs garden to drip irrigation.