H started co-teaching a Positive Discipline Parenting class tonight at the Bellingham Technical College. Though she's not getting paid for it it's a good experience and may lead to a paid teaching position later this year. When she got home we both agreed how lucky we are to already practice PD with our kids and how much of a difference it makes for all of us.

Had a mellow, pleasant evening with the kids. N read a whole graphic novel on his own tonight! He really got into Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things by Ted Naifeh. I'd read this before and knew it was engaging, with great art. H got it from the library today because it looked good and it was recommended for 7yr olds and up. It was really cool to see N so enthralled with the book, he just got very focused and read it all "in his head" - I don't think he "got" it all conceptually but it's still a big leap. I'm going to read it to him and M & S tomorrow to reinforce his conceptions and to help explain things. We're going to look for more graphic novels for both N&M to read, and inevitably S will want to too. I think we'll start with Jeff Smith's Bone books. Should also mention that M read Monkey vs. Robot by James Kochalka, another cool graphic novel. It was fun to listen to him read the words out loud: "Boooom!" "Crash!"

I'm keeping on top of my schoolwork but it still feels like I'm juggling a lot of slippery balls. And I need to work on the Tsunami blog article more this week too! And the 580 paper that's due Monday! And continue to wrap my head around the database concepts for 542!!

I'm listening to Wilco's Bonus Tracks EP that I downloaded for free from their site. It's great, with six songs new and old and reworked. Man, they're an awesome band. Sometime I'll have to write the story of H and my trip to Vancouver to see Wilco live and following Tweedy around for awhile on the street and my one-of-a-kind souvenir.

I'm failing miserably at my new goal to stop doing schoolwork by 11pm so that I can get a few more minutes of sleep every night (it's 11:31 as I type this). I've got to work harder at that, because the one night this week I did manage to stop by 11 I felt more rested the next day.

But tomorrow's Saturday and I don't have to get up early and better yet it's a three day weekend!!

H's play opened on Thursday to a packed house. There was a good review in the paper of it that day (from the preview show) and H felt pretty good about her performance. Tonight's show went well too.

The kids have had a couple of hard days, especially N - just lots of fighting, squabbling and bickering. Something's out of balance...

I'm going to be bottling my stout this weekend - it's been in the carboy for a week for the secondary fermentation - it looks dark and tasty. Can't wait to try it in a few weeks.

B is coming up on his way to Vancouver, BC this weekend. We should be able to get together and jam on Sunday - I'm looking forward to it. Played a new song for the kids tonight about Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and the Tar Baby. They liked it.

I've been working hard this week on my classes, but I've also been really productive too, which feels good. Tomorrow I've got to get more writing done on the tsunami blogs article P and I are working on. And do more school work, of course.

Oh man, I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted anything.......

Let's see. H's play (Plummet) opens tomorrow night. The preview show last night went well - it should be a good show. Now I just have to figure out a way to go see it.

And speaking of shows I bought tickets to see Steve Earle in Seattle in February with H. That'll be a great time. Plus I've got a ticket to see David Grisman and Ricky Skaggs here in Bellingham.

The Iraq blog article I wrote with PP is coming out in February. It's going to be the cover article too. I'm very stoked about that. Just signed and mailed off my contract to the magazine today, which was cool too. Now we're working on another article, this one about the tsunami blogs that have been started. I've got to finish writing the intro to that tonight.

The kids really enjoyed the snow we got here last week - I think there was 4-5 inches. The only downside for me is that I can't ride my bike for a while. I'm really missing my rides.

The residency in Seattle went well. It was nice to see some of my cohort, especially at a dinner that most of us went to on Friday night. The two classes I'm taking right now (Database Design and Management of Information Organizations) are keeping me very busy, especially the database class. I'm very tired and feel, as usual, like I'm juggling eighteen things at once.

The kids are all doing well. We haven't been able to do any nights out since H has been in rehearsals and now performances, but probably next week we'll be able to do that again. We had a family meeting last Sunday after not having any for about three weeks. It really makes a big difference for all of us! It's quite extraordinary.

H may begin teaching her parenting class next week if Bellingham Technical College gets enough enrollments. I hope that works out for her too.

That's pretty much it for now I think. Work, school, family life, and some personal stuff squeezed in here and there.

Oh yeah, speaking of personal stuff, I got two new guitars (stumbled onto a sale at Mojo Music and with H's enthusiastic support bought two dream guitars). A Martin SWOMGT and a Fender '52 reissue Telecaster. They're both beautiful, superbly playable and make me very happy.