I, Muehlenhaus. U, Riedermaus.

January has come and I'm still trying to shake off the aftertaste of pickled herring and eggnog. Overall, this had to be one of the best holidays in recent memory. I actually didn't succumb to any end-of-the-semester illness as I had feared. I kept on working throughout most of the festivities (albeit less than the norm). I haven't secluded myself in the basement and played Madden football all break like in years past. In fact, I disconnected my GameCube for good. It's done -- part of a resolution I am sure to break as soon as the Super Bowl rolls around and I crave to run an imaginary flea flicker. I've been playing a lot of board and card games this break, and I feel all the better for it. Birgit has been on vacation for a couple of weeks and it seems like almost every evening when we aren't off socializing we are playing a round of Venture, Bohnanza (by far my new favorite, though I have never won yet), Ticket to Ride Switzerland, or KuhHandel / Horse Trading (which Birgit and I somehow roped her relatives into playing over Christmas break and they actually enjoyed it).

Christmas was one full of loot, just as Christ envisioned I am sure. Ha! I scored a new expansion to Thurn & Taxis -- yes, a game about establishing the first postal routes in Germany! Now we can expand our routes into eastern Germany and the Nederlands! Brilliant... I surprised Birgit and bought her an iPod. I mentioned that she needed boots for a brown skirt one day, then the next day went to Schuler Shoes and coaxed an employee there to give me an empty Uggs boot box. I stuffed two pairs of dirty lawn-mowing sneakers into the box in the garage, asked her not to look when I came into the house, then made sure that during Mette's mad dash to greet me Birgit "accidentally" saw the box in the Schuler Shoes bag. I acted devastated for a couple of days -- including a fake crying session. I wrapped the iPod, put it in with the molding shoes, wrapped the box. I thought she was on to me. But when she opened the box I could tell I surprised her. It was an absolute coup! For a moment, I felt like I had just won a round of Bohnanza... which is still yet to ever happen.

Went up to Duluth for the actual holiday. I hung out with my eight year-old niece, Clair. Since she has a little brother now, I'm worried she may lack the appropriate attention. Next thing you know, she will be sniffing glue or something. Birgit tells me I am overreacting a bit, but my brother was seven years older than I am, and well, he had a rough time of it, for sure. So I made sure to spoil her with attention. I took her to a water park on Christmas Eve day -- Birgit and I found a pet friendly hotel about four blocks from our house that also had a water park attached.

I hate pools. I hate chlorine, and I sure as heck don't enjoy wading through kiddie pee. But this was pretty fun. I borrowed a pair of trunks from my step-dad, and Clair and I went wild at the Edge. The water slides were wicked fun! I was hooked. I felt like a weirdo going back-and-back for more rides, surrounded by a bunch of nine year-olds. The lifeguards seemed somewhat amused, or maybe disturbed, but whatever. It was great! Hopefully I put off the glue sniffing for a couple of years with this event, but who knows... younger siblings, man, they ruin everything!

Gearing up for my cartography class this upcoming semester. Scott Freundschuh has been kind enough to email me his tough-ass labs from UMD. I am very tempted to make my students work like dogs. In the end, they will be better cartographers for it. I am still trying to decide how hard to work them, though... Macalester classes are coming together too. I've heard from the International Studies department chair over there, and it looks like I may have a gig teaching a course on the Post-Soviet Sphere over there a year from now. At this stage in my life, it certainly is nice to have a plan for what I might be doing in the future. I'm sick of winging life. I guess I really am getting old.

Birgit and I are busy planning our trip to France this summer. I'm stoked about being the godfather of Manu's child. (I guess Manu is doing well, aside from vomiting while teaching a couple of times.) It won't be a religious ceremony, thankfully, but because her dad is the mayor of the village, he has to give his blessing to the thing and then we will all party like French rock stars! (No, we won't go as far as the guy from the band Noir Desir, though. Not that French rockstarish!!!)

That's about it. Life is back to work. Trying to wade through a massive amount of paperwork (or html work) right now for an NSF grant proposal. I'm also procrastinating putting together an assignment for Human Geography. I just couldn't stomach Mao's face anymore. The guy was pure evil, yet for some reason he retains a position of stature above Stalin and Hitler. I blame Kissinger -- that bastard! But I digress...