It's been a while since I've actually blogged ( what an interesting new verb, blog). I'm working my way into the thick of classes, I've got a paper due next week and the reading list is growing fast and furious. The big project for me this semester is the "Workshop" class where a group of classmates and I are unleashed upon some unsuspecting community so that we can plan the hell out of it. Our target is going to be the neighboring suburb of Conshohocken, just north of the city along the Schuylkill (skoo-kill) River. I've ridden my bicycle through there numerous times while on rides through the surrounding countrysides. It will be pretty sweet if I can actually see some of my planning efforts pay off in the future, but realistically the borough government thinks that we're just a bunch of junior chimps, they've set the bar pretty low. I'm just hoping to get through the semester with my sanity.

I had the interesting experience of being chased by a dog the other day.

While riding my bike up a rather steep hill in Fairmount park, I passed a guy with three dogs walking off lead, a big one, a medium sized one and then a chihuahua puppy. As I rode by I heard the guy say something to one of the dogs, didn't think anything of it and I continued on my way. The guy kept yelling things at his dog and I heard a tiny jingle behind me. Yep, you guessed it, a dog no bigger than a squirrel was trying to run me down. I ended up stopping to wait so that the guy could catch up with his little rodent-pooch. It's always weird for me when animals that look so much like rats behave just like dogs. Its as if a white 5 year old came up to me speaking Japanese. It just doesn't set well in the mind.

We finally finished the refinishing of our floors last weekend. They look grand, let me tell you . The rather amateurish efforts to refinish the floors by the previous owners just didn't cut the mustard, as they were lumpy gouged and uneven. We rented one of the big professional units before Christmas and Jennifer and I had a stellar time riding that thing around, but it didn't really do everything because the floor was so lumpy to begin with, so I ended up spending my week of holiday on my knees, pleading with the floor gods for a smooth and beautiful surface. It turned out pretty well, let me tell you. I'll post pictures of the actual surface in a bit, they seem not to be on the computer yet.

Holidays, they're good.

I have to say that while it's good to be back in Philly, I didn't really miss the home repair or the litter on the street. We spent Newyears Day bailing out our basement. The second snowstorm that blanketed Colorado and the Midwest with snow and ice arrived here as a warm pissing rain that poured about 200 gallons of water into our basement. Fortunately, nothing terrible happened to any of our stuff, this being the third time it's happened, we managed to keep things off the floor pretty well. Nothing quite like the joys of homeownership! I'm enjoying my week off for the most part, though I've still got quite a bit of sanding to do on the floor before we can stain and finish it. I borrowed a belt sander from a friend and have been grinding away the divits left when the previous owners refinished the floor. They must have used a chainsaw or something to pare down the floor by the way it looks. Such is life. The floor will look good once it's finished, but that is still multiple hours of sanding and staining away. I'd best get to it.