I fell asleep around 9:30 Friday night. I’m not sure why I was so tired. It might have been from shoveling a foot of snow in our driveway so soon after recovering from sickness.

I got up bright and early Saturday morning. I shoveled another inch or so of snow and discovered that the snow plow had destroyed the door on our mail box. I put the door back on out of pure interest to see what the mailman would do when it came off in his hand.

I renewed the registration on our Vibe. I got a new driver’s license. It’s pink. Ohio BMV, let it be noted: I do not like having a pink driver’s license. Ok, I’m over it. Last time I got my picture taken for a driver’s license, I smiled. Ever since, I’ve thought it looked kind of goofy. So this time, I decided not to smile for the picture. The result is that it looks like a druggie’s mugshot. In pink. Oh well, it’s only until 2014.

Molly and I went to North Ridgeville to apply for passports. I smiled for the passport picture. Afterward, we had lunch at Fiesta Jalapenos Mexican Grill. The salsa was really good, the rice was amazing, but the beans weren’t worth eating. I got a chicken burrito and chicken enchilada. The chicken peices were huge, which would normally ruin the meal for me, but they were so soft and juicy that it was actually good. It really hit the spot.

When we got home, I checked the mail. The mailman had just shoved the mailbox door inside the mailbox with the mail. Speaking of mail, my Daisy Owl poster arrived today! It came with a small personalized doodle of Mr. Owl, which is a pretty cool extra.

I was in fine shape last Friday. Then I woke up Saturday morning with a pretty bad cold. I did manage to run a few errands in the morning, but I was useless for the rest of the weekend. In the past, Molly has complained that I don’t let her take care of me when I am sick. I always do things myself and don’t want to trouble her when I am capable even though I don’t feel well. This time around, there was a marked change in my policy.

I don’t know why, but I was convinced that I would be better when I woke up Monday morning. Unfortunately, this cold had other plans and I was powerless against them. I was still sick and had to stay home from work.

Over a period of three days, I think I watched about 10 movies. That’s not normal for me.

I continued to be pretty sick until yesterday. Now I’m just dealing with persistant sniffing.

Two things that I missed the most while sick: contact with Molly and Rock Band. I plan on enjoying both tonight.

On Valentine’s Day, I made Molly pancakes for breakfast. I also made her a card, got her a Julie & Julia DVD and a massage.

She told me a couple of times that she hadn’t gotten anything for me. This left me slightly disappointed, but I wasn’t too worried about it. Valentine’s Day is mostly for girls anyway.

Yesterday was Presidents’ Day; Molly had off from work and I didn’t. She said she was going to have supper ready for me when I got home, but I had no idea what was in store.

I got home and opened the door to find the lights down low, candles lit, some Enya playing on the stereo, and Molly all dressed up. She made some excellent stuffed mushrooms for appetizers. I cannot describe how delicious they were or how impressed I was that she had made them. The main course was twice baked potatoes which were also quite good. This was accompanied by sparkling grape juice. Dessert was a mini oreo cake.

As a present, she got me a stool for playing the drums in Rock Band. Unfortunately, it’s a little too high, so we’ll have to take it back and get another one. Still, it’s the thought that counts and this was something I didn’t ask for but needed.

I was really surprised with what was waiting for me at home last night. It was an excellent ending to what was already a pretty good day.

The best part about today is that there are more mushrooms left over and I get to enjoy them tonight before going to see Bela Fleck.

Last weekend, Molly and I got up bright and early for the 5.5 hour drive to Naples, NY. That’s where my aunts Ellen and Karen host the family Christmas party every year.

The weather wasn’t horrible, but the roads were a little slick in places. One benefit to the conditions was that there wasn’t any traffic, so I didn’t have to deal with that.

We arrived around 11:45 and had a great time visiting with everyone. It was nice to get to know my cousin Arthur’s girlfriend and to see uncle Bill after so long (could it have been 10 years?).

As always, the food was great and we got to bring a lot of goodies home with us. We got a nice calendar of elaborate tree-houses, which is great because Molly and I were sort of at a loss as to what kind of calendar to get for our kitchen this year. (Last year was easy, since we had been planning a trip to D.C.) I got a few gift cards. I also got a bunch of my grandmother’s genealogy papers. Aunt Karen had remembered that I was working on the family tree from last year and thoughtfully provided me with these valuable resources.

Molly and I stayed at a bed and breakfast called Bristol Views, which was a pleasant experience. The living room had a warm fire that was very comfortable to read beside. The bathroom attached to our room was large and everything was clean and cozy. Breakfast was blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, and fresh applesauce. The blueberries and syrup were from local sources, which was a nice touch.

After breakfast, we stopped by my aunts’ house and said our final goodbyes before heading back home. We made a stop in Cuba, NY and checked out their “famous” cheese shop. It was pretty cool and we ended up buying three different kinds of cheese. So far, we’ve discovered that Goat Milk Cheddar goes well on a ham sandwich, Irish Blarney is really good melted on crackers, and Switzerland Swiss Emmentaler (aged over 90 days) is good all by itself.

My company tries to facilitate learning among its employees throughout the year. One way they do this is by hosting Lunch & Learn sessions where a developer makes a presentation on a software development topic and lunch is provided by the company.

We had 15 talks last year. After each one, all of the attendees were asked to fill out an evaluation of the presentation. The points were tallied and my presentation, “Fundamentals of jQuery and the jQuery Event Model,” received the highest score for 2009.

I can’t take all of the credit, though. jQuery is pretty awesome in its own right.