I met my family in San Diego (they had already spent a couple of days in Las Vegas whence they had driven). 8 timezones of jetlag positioned my schedule more or less in line with my parents (6AM-9PM). My first full day in San Diego we headed to the zoo. I think the brown bear above left captures my general disdain for zoos. They're OK, but generally full of animals who don't look too psyched to be there. Furthermore animals in captivity don't seem to do much other than sleep and hang out, so it isn't exactly like driving across the veldt. The panda above is a little more interesting, since it had managed to climb the tree, where it chilled out and savoured its bamboo.

At left is my Dad sporting a campaign hat in the gift shop. He did not, alas, purchase the hat.

The next day I went with my dad to check out the USS Midway, erstwhile aircraft carrier and current museum. Shown above is the view from the deck of two active carriers, the Ronald Reagan and the Nimitz. Quite a collection of firepower protecting San Diego.

At left are some kitesurfers in the Pacific near our hotel and below is me with the folks at the top of some mountain in La Jolla which featured a pretty awesome 360 degree view.

I was back in Boston for New Year's Eve, where I had the chance to see the usual gang for a few days before heading to Seattle to work (see below).

At left Scott looks nonplussed while Lydia wonders what's at the bottom of her cup.

A surprise visit from eahearn and mdakin made for quite a putz reunion, below.

Below left is what I thought was a pretty good photograph of me, courtesy of Am.

Next on my tour was Seattle to do some work (and I hoped to go skiing). Below left is my shiny new workstation at the Hutch, while below right is a shot of Dave's and my cozy living room, complete with fireplace at the business apartment.

Dave's friend Renee came down from Vancouver and we checked out the space needle (not that impressive). Photos are of the three of us at the top, and the view of the Huch (the brick coloured group of buildings between the marina and the highway overpass).

At the very bottom is a shot of the snowstorm that I had to drive through to get to the airport and nearly prevented me from making it back to Boston that night. Pretty, but inconvenient.