Before the year in review, the last few weeks in review.

First, we have ( a not-quite Gift of Magi story )

As a general matter, we were better about dealing with holiday stuff in a rational manner this year: we did almost all of our shopping on weekdays, when things were less hectic; I actually wrapped presents ahead of time; I was able to take a reasonable quantity of time off for travel; and I made good use of my external brain, a.k.a. my Palm, to keep track of things. (In full geek-out mode, I created a database listing everyone we buy for and what we got them for Christmas, birthdays, and anniversaries where appropriate. Next year I'll add new columns for 2007; never again will I say, "but did we get that for them last year?")

So while we had a lot of travel over Christmas, we were in reasonably good shape for it. Saturday and Sunday still passed in a bit of a blur: party with Mom's side of the family - crash for night - drive drive drive - crash for a couple of hours - Christmas eve with Chad's father's side of the family - CRASH. Good times, though.

Also, toy of the year: marshmallow guns. Make your own, or purchase from a variety of places online.

As is becoming traditional, Chad's folks came up to our place for dinner post-holidays. Last year we had an awful experience at Buca di Beppo; this year one of our favorite restaurants, Cella Bistro, was a bit slow because they were really busy, and then was very slow because the kitchen had to re-do two of the entrees because (believe it or not) they weren't quite rare enough. Which is very unusual and welcome in a restaurant, but still, twice in a row is enough: next year we're cooking.

Last night I, err, was asleep at midnight. I'd been at a party next door, but started feeling a little unwell and came home to lie down. I made it to about 11:40 and then, despite my best efforts, I was out until Chad came home around 12:30. (His comment: "I knew you should've taken a nap."). Oh well.

( Tweaking oatmeal raisin cookie recipe? )

Oh, and really finally this time, for those of you who read manga and don't follow my booklog, I posted on Planetes and vol. 1 of Emma yesterday.

I dunno. In some ways, this was a pretty sucky year, thanks to Chad and I both having minor but persistent health problems; while Chad getting tenure makes up for a great deal, that only happened in December. Well, Chad's doing much better and I'm getting there, so I have hopes for 2007.

Work was good this year. I started a new job in January, which has been just as I'd hoped: challenging, varied, and less hectic than my old job (still sometimes hectic, but for shorter lengths of time). I've set the "burnout" clock way, way back, and that is definitely a good thing.

Of major family note, a great-aunt died unexpectedly, and we hosted Thanksgiving for the first time. Though not family, I much regret the loss of John M. Ford (links, quasi-memorial post).

Not much travel this year. As usual, we went to Boskone (report parts one, two) and Readercon (multiple posts, just see July 2006). We also went to Chicago for a long weekend, and I went to New York City with a friend. Mostly we were saving up for Japan this year, and that was fine. We did get to some live performances: Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band; Guster (Chad's writeup; my brief addition); Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood (noted very briefly); and The Subdudes.

In other entertainment news, we finished watching Fullmetal Alchemist, Samurai Champloo, Vision of Escaflowne, Martian Successor Nadesico, and Trigun (see my tag list for posts about each). Perhaps oddly, Homicide fell by the wayside now that we own all the discs and don't have red NetFlix envelopes reminding us to watch. Planned watching for this year: Crest of Stars, Last Exile, and then to-be-determined.

As for tech/bloggy stuff, I grew dependent on a Palm Z22 this year (I call it "my external brain," and I'm not kidding) and went nuts with LibraryThing. I moved the booklog to a different host, and changed my LJ to S2, thanks to rilina. And I did more blogging in concert with others than usual, for International Saiyuki Week (roundup; my posts in month view) and International Blog Against Racism Week (roundup; my posts).

Finally and less self-centeredly, the year at Wikipedia.

I don't usually make New Year's Resolutions, but I've been intending some things for a while, and I might as well set them out here:

• Get in better shape. Start by trying yoga once my hips are better.
• Read more. In particular, stop zoning out in front of the computer after work and then wondering where the time went.
• Finish my LJ homework.
• Keep re-reading The Lord of the Rings.
• Finish The Tale of Genji before going to Japan in August (this one only became final when Chad got tenure and we were positive we were going).

And speaking of Japan, I'm going to get offline now and start reading the travel stuff that Chad's been patiently waiting for me to get to. (Suggestions about Japan should wait for a forthcoming post when we talk about our current plans, please.)