Something to Look Forward To

Egads, we actually got a little snow yesterday. Granted, it was only about an inch or so, but at least it looks like winter around here today. Who'd have thought our first snowfall of the winter would come on December 30? It was kind of fitting that we watched An Inconvenient Truth. The climate changes we've been undergoing are truly scary, and there's no denying them, although there are plenty of folks who do just that.

As for me, I'm doing my part for the environment by taking alternative means of transportation to work while I don't have a car. We decided the bike option was probably not the safest because of the traffic and darkness on the way home, so instead I'm actually going to run to work two or three times a week and get rides the other days. It's an eight-mile run, which isn't bad, and if I leave the house by 6:30, I can get to Marblehead by 7:45 and have time to shower and change at the gym next to my office. Then I can either get a ride home or have Deb pick me up. We looked into getting a new car now, but it just doesn't make sense for us. So I'll use my feet for now. I'm actually kind of looking forward to it.

We're forgoing our normal New Year's ritual of lobsters and a movie rental to go to the house of our friends Tammy and Steve and their kids for the evening. We'll stay there and come back in the a.m. when all the drunks are passed out, hopefully in their own homes.

And now, because absolutely nobody asked, here's my top 10 albums of 2006:

1. The Hold Steady--Boys and Girls in America
2. Sloan--Never Hear the End of It
3. Mission of Burma--The Obliterati
4. TV on the Radio--Return to Cookie Mountain
5. The Twilight Singers--Powder Burns/A Stitch in Time EP
6. Sonic Youth--Rather Ripped
7. Drive-by Truckers--A Blessing and a Curse
8. Mastodon--Blood Mountain
9. Yo La Tengo--I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
10. The Tragically Hip--World Container

Honorable mention: The Raconteurs--Broken Boy Soldiers; The Minus 5--(The Gun Album); Pearl Jam--self-titled; Iron Maiden--A Matter of Life and Death; Destroyer--Destroyer's Rubies; Eagles of Death Metal--Death By Sexy; Shearwater--Palo Santo; The Lemonheads--self-titled; Tapes 'n Tapes--The Loon; Sebadoh III reissue; Pavement--Wowee Zowee reissue.

Seeya next year!