I know I said I wouldn’t check on grades until after New Year’s, but I got an email from one of my profs that said he had finished his grading and I had to check on the rest. Evidence was bad, but I don’t have to take it again. I didn’t do quite as well in Constitutional Law as I hoped, but I still passed handily. The surprise of all surprises was Business Associations - I did much better than I thought. All told, I’m not on Academic probation, and I’m closer to graduation. New Year’s resolution: Stop passing just by the skin of my teeth. No, for real this time.

Christmas holiday has been loads of fun. We had 17 people for Christmas Eve in Portland. We skipped town on Christmas Day, heading south to Eugene just as another snow storm was touching down. There were 13 for Christmas dinner at the Brunner house - James made a Victorian style dinner with goose, trimming, and baked apples. Kim attempted a flaming brandy cake, which did not quite flame (it was tasty anyway).

On the 27th, Kim and Mirm hosted at least 15 and possibly more for wine and dessert at Mirm’s house. A very good time was had by all.

Chris and I had lunch with Shelby and Eric yesterday. We’re meeting Cindy for lunch today. This has been a great vacation for seeing family and friends.

Tomorrow, we’re back on a train heading south to LA. Hopefully, we’ll be home in time to watch the ball drop on TV. And if not, well, the train has champaign - we’ll make do.

Here are some more pictures to give you an idea of the amount of snow we’re having up here. We drove James’ car into Portland on Friday night. We haven’t moved it since (though Chris did start the engine up just to see if it would work).

Saturday, December 20:

Sunday, December 21:

Monday, December 22, 10:00am:

Chris and I are at my parents’ house in Portland, and we showed up just in time for the storm of the decade. Portland’s had about 4-8 inches of snow since we left Eugene on Friday. We’re due for another 4 - 6 inches tonight. The funny part is, south of Albany, everything is great. But up here, we’re getting some kind of wicked “Arctic Draft” (quoth the various TV weather squads) down through the Gorge. That’s keeping everything frozen.

Try as it might, my old home town just can’t compete with that much white stuff for so many days in a row. Tri-Met is still operating, but that’s about it. The airport isn’t letting anything land. Amtrack has had three trains go out all day long - one North, one South, and one East. Greyhound hasn’t sent out any buses today.

On the up side, here at the home base, we’re set. We have water, power, and heat. We live three blocks from an enormous Safeway. If the situation calls for it, we live even closer to a liquor store which has remained valiantly open through the storm. And Chris and I are happy that we don’t have to go anywhere until Thursday.

Safe travels to anyone heading out for Christmas! I’ll leave you with a couple of pictures:

Chris and I on the front lawn of my house:

My house (Chris is on the porch taking a picture):

The street where I live:

Finals have come and gone. It was a rough term - there’s a very good chance I’ll have to take Evidence again. But I’ve reached the “acceptance” phase of the 5 stages of finals, and whatever happens, happens. Instead of worrying about that, I’m going to kick back and enjoy my month off from classes.

Three weeks of that month, Chris and I are spending in Oregon. In fact, I’m in Eugene right now; I’ve got my feet propped up on a coffee table, Chris’ laptop to blog with, Dirty Jobs playing in the background, and a gas fire burning merrily in the hearth. We spent a very relaxing 28 or so hours traveling north via Amtrak roomette. Excellent meals, wine tasting as we passed through Napa Valley, friendly staff, gorgeous views, and a bed you can stretch out on at night. I highly recommends an Amtrak trip by sleeper car if you have time to spare.  We took lots of pictures, and I’ll link to them once Chris has them sorted and tagged.

The Pacific Northwest is having a very white Christmas - there is a three part winter storm in progress. It is, I kid you not, 12 °F right now. This is the coldest temperature I’ve ever been in. It is crystal clear out right now, but there is supposed to be more snow tomorrow night, and more snow still on Saturday. I love the snow, but now that I’m an adult - and have to run errands that aren’t just spending my days sledding in the park (no doubt that’s the REAL problem, here) - I’m not so fond of the ice on the road.  We need to holiday shop, and travel, and the ice will make all of that slow going.

The plan is to stay in Eugene until Friday or Saturday, and then head up to Portland.  We’ll be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with my family.  Then we’ll head back down to Eugene for Christmas dinner with Chris’ family.  We’ll stay in Eugene until the 30th, and then get back on the train south.  We should be back in Los Angeles in time to watch the ball drop on TV.

PS:  Survey results are in, and my new latin motto is the “Cave ab homine unius libri” - Beware of anyone who has just one book.