100,000 Elephants have been killed in Africa in the last three years. Every 15 minutes an elephant is killed for its ivory. Stop the Ivory trade in China and other countries that participate and SAVE the ELEPHANT!! (Pic Source: Natl Geographic)

Winter is winning.

Can't help but seeing everybody trying to rake off their roofs around town before tonight's snow/rain craptacular event.

Fisher Spa in Braintree is THE place to go. I got to hang out there for a few while LD got a treatment she loved! I read some of the book while sitting in the chair!

Another 14+" on top of the 30" we already have on the ground! Snow banks taller than cars. 4' up to the front door....

Today we got massages before the next winter storm rolls in later tonight.

STOP!!!

Also, my mom is on the front page of this week's Somerville Journal (nice photo!), dealing with all the snow we have gotten.

Not sure how Boston expects to have a Patriots parade tomorrow with all the snow around. Should be real interesting.

Implant is in! Begin the healing process! So far, I'm very pleased with how its turning out. It really is amazing how far technology has come. Once it heals in about 2 months I'll be done!

Ready for the Super Bowl! (ok, and the Puppy Bowl).

On a positive note, I was able to correct LDs computer. Come to find out there was a tricky little trojan hiding in there, which I finally successfully eradicated.

#$%@!!

And I hear about is deflated footballs!

%$@*(!!

Back in Boston now, and we are getting snow. Blah! I rather enjoyed sunny 70 degree days. Pretty psyched that everyday we were there was sunny and 70s. The first day was a bit overcast but it didn't rain! I got to check out places such as the Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and an entire day at a place called Discovery Cove (A part of SeaWorld) which has some really cool water features and swimming with dolphins. I didn't do the dolphin thing, but the Ladydoc did. Got some great photos from the event.

The last day was a little stressful trying to get back, with the kids being themselves, and having the absolute slowest bus driver in the world to get back to the airport, but we made it!

Just some quick snaps from the week so far.

6:52 am: Waiting at the gate!
10:30 am: In Orlando!

Let the fun begin!

This afternoon, went to Allston-Brighton for some new sneakers, and also to buy some more necessities for the trip. Can't believe it's this week already! Very exciting! Hopefully everything will go swimmingly. LD was also kind enough to drive around so I could find that mural - one that I've been wanting to visit for a while.

Also took down some of the xmas lights, but not all!

Got up early this morning because I noticed my car needed to get inspected before the end of the month, and I figure I better get it out of the way because of the big trip coming up next week. When I first heard about it, I wasn't all that enthused, but now I'm getting stoked for it - think it'll be fun. Car passed inspection, btw, with flying colors, as it always does. Then I finished some errands that I needed to address as well.

I've been in the process of slowly packing my new carry-on for the trip. I hate to have to rush because I inevitably always forget something and then I'm kicking myself in the ass about it. Hopefully I will have prepared appropriately - I like to have something for every weather occasion - just in case.

Did try lunch out in Newton today at a place called New England Soup Factory. It was a good day for soup, for sure.

A thing we started doing is reading our own books together. I am reading another book on Jumbo Why are all these book written by British authors? Is it because the elephant spent so much time at the London Zoo?), and she's reading some Scarpetta stuff. Nice, quiet, and toasty.

Today LD finally bit the bullet and got rid of her iPhone for the Samsung S5. Welcome to Android land! I think she's going to like it better and besides, most of us have one now so commuting and sharing with each other should be easier. While waiting in the Verizon store annoying sales people kept bugging me. I' not interested in anything you have - a have my own cable, internet, and phone providers which I'm very happy with - none of which is you. I basically had to be pretty rude to get this kid off of me. Hate hanging around those places.

Unfortunately I inadvertently loaded LD's laptop up with some particularly nasty malware which I've been trying to eradicate for the last couple of days. I'm coming to my wits end trying to get rid of it. I consider myself fairly tech savvy but this is making me pull my hair out. Worse case scenario I'll just reinstall windows but its such a pain. It's Windows 8 too which I find wicked annoying because I'm so used to previous versions that I can't find where certain tools are.

Yesterday we also got a look at one of those android wear watch thingies that a friend got for xmas. Really impressive but why do you need to android phone then? It seems like they need each other to work, so then why bother? Cool tech, tho!

This entry will be updated as I add more thoughts about things...stay tuned. As for tonight, just staying inside wand relaxing - maybe pump up the jukebox. I think this is the first time in 6 years we haven't been out of town around New Years - I'm saving up the time for Disney. Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So, for the rest of tonight, I'm going to turn my brain off, get into my jammies, and watch some old reruns of Law& Order until I just float into oblivion.

I'm still in the process of setting it all up but so far, I recommend it.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the great state of New Jersey!

Finishing wrapping up the presents for the kids and all for the holiday. Kinda tiring after a while. Especially since I can't wrap for beans. I can never get the edges just right. But the lights look nice, no?

But, the future must move on.

Time will tell if it helped in the long run.

Naturally pick out a line, all were full, I just randomly pick one, I don't try to figure out which one is moving faster since inevitably no matter which one I pick ends up being the slowest. Bunch of people in front - end up waiting maybe 6-8 minutes.

Lady in front of me. Her stuff comes to like 40 bucks. Hands cashier a coupon. Gets down to 30ish bucks. Looks for some more coupons - takes a little while. Finds 2. Cashier scans. Eventually gets it down to like 10 bucks. This all takes like 3 minutes although it seems an eternity. Lady asks about stupid stuff. Amazing there wasn't more of a problem doing this as I've found is usually the case.

Lady hands cashier a 100 dollar bill. Not enough change. Have to wait for manager to get more money for change. Sigh. Wait time another 3 minutes. Eternity times two. Funny thing is I think so any had very few items. Figures. Optical Illusions.

Finally I'm up - show my two items. Done in under a 30 seconds. Outta there.

***

Decided to drop some coin on myself and buy the kindle version of the book, Jumbo: The Unauthorised Biography of a Victorian Sensation. What can I say? I'm a Jumbo fan.