twas the eve before the eve before new years

i expected work to be pretty quiet today, but not this quiet. it's almost as bad as the day after thanksgiving, when becca and i were two of something like five people on the whole third floor. our group has the best attendance today it seems: gavin, george, ray, becca and me. it is sad to see laura's desk so empty now that her co-op tour is over.

also, now that i'm back in houston, it doesn't feel anything like late december. i think this is solely due to the weather. it's 72 degrees outside. 72! this is the one time of year--this month between mid-december and mid-january--that i've never experienced in houston until now. my co-op tours spanned the rest of the year at some point or another, but i have never been here for the new year.

but we're doing well with plans. tonight irwin (who arrived yesterday for a week-long stay at becca's house) is cooking the fresh salmon he brought from seattle. yummmmm. and for tomorrow, plans are falling into place. the bowl game is at 2:30, and it sounds like we'll follow the game with an evening movie, then fondue at becca's house, then the countdown to midnight at randy and ami's house with a larger crowd. it should be a fun new years. i hope my friends in atlanta will find a happy medium in their new years plans...it sounds like everyone there has a different idea of what their activity should be.

so over christmas, i found out that i won a free cell phone from a drawing i entered at the dome run a few weeks back. this evening after work i'm going to pick it up. it's a digital camera phone! i'm so excited. i hope it works. the catch is that to get the phone i'm supposed to activate a new account. which i feel is incredibly dumb, i mean, doesn't every company have that gimmick, ooh, free phone with activation? come on, what was the point of having a drawing for a free phone when it's not actually free but just "free."

but i digress. point is, i figure if i can get in and out of the building tonight with the phone in hand without signing anything, i can just take the phone to the t-mobile store and get them to set the sim card (or however it works). crossing my fingers that i can dupe them into thinking i'll just activate the phone later or something.

anyway.

18 days till i go to france...