Happy new year!

I just got back to Boston yesterday, having spent the holidays with my family in San Diego. Mike charmed everyone (as expected), and we got my mom's official approval for our engagement. :) I think the turning point was when he managed to snatch the restaurant bill from under the fortune cookies when we went out for dinner. In addition to basking in the afternoon sun, we went hiking in Rose Canyon, where we saw quite a few animals, including many hummingbirds and this hawk (Cooper's hawk?),



looked for feral parrots in Ocean Beach (the locals said to try again in the summertime), enjoyed the boardwalk at Pacific Beach (where my mom immediately outpaced Mike and me),



ate elephant clams (?) in Monterey Park, deflected (mostly) Connie and Rick's attempts to demonstrate their Krav Maga moves on us, bounced Audrey on our knees and practiced making her giggle and dance (she is training us well),



met Mike's friend who analyzed the musicality of Snowball the Dancing Cockatoo (find it on Youtube!) and ate LOTS of my mom's dumplings and pineapple cheesecake as well as Mike's salsa.

All in all, it was a really fun vacation and a nearly total break from work, and of course I returned with 30 pounds of dumplings, broccoli, gai choy, avocados, fragrant pears, longan fruit, an onion chopper, and ... brand new underwear!

Mike managed to look like he was working while we were on vacation, by being quoted in the Washington Post as a parrot expert. I made a couple attempts at productivity (started a few computer simulations, worked on a blog entry for Science about origins of life; I'll post a link if it ever makes it online), but those were really just ways to make myself feel like less of a lazybones. But now, the jelly beans are eaten and it's time to go back to work! (after the weekend, that is). :)