…and to all a good night!

P.S. I got my GPS, and I now have $356.24 in Best Buy gift cards! Yaaay! :)

Mmmm… Zak Christmas cookies. :)

I hope everyone is having a great holiday. In a few hours, we (me, Becky, her parents, brother, sister and brother-in-law) will be opening this impressive collection of presents:

That’s in keeping with the Zak family tradition of opening all presents on Christmas Eve, whereas the Loomer-Loy tradition is for each person to open one present on Christmas Eve, and the rest on Christmas morning. (I asked Becky earlier: “So what do you do on Christmas morning? Go to church?” Heh.)

I’m injecting a bit of Loomer-Loy tradition, though, by bringing out a couple of stuffed animals to witness the festivities. Note Hugh Manatee and Sully in the photo above — both of whom celebrate their birthdays tomorrow! :)

More winter break photos here.

UPDATE: ‘Twas a beautiful sunset against, and moonrise over, the Superstition Mountains here in Gold Canyon, AZ:

No, really:

Corey Bramlet drilled a 12-yard touchdown pass to John Wadkowski with 57 seconds left Thursday night to give Wyoming its first bowl win in 38 years, a 24-21 victory over favored UCLA in the Las Vegas Bowl. …

After beating Florida State in the 1966 Sun Bowl, the Cowboys lost their next six bowls and hadn’t even been invited to one since 1993. …

Bramlet finished 20-of-34 for 307 yards and two touchdowns. He took the Cowboys 72 yards to the winning score on a drive that began with 4:02 remaining, after UCLA’s Justin Medlock missed a 45-yard field goal.

Bramlet kept the final drive alive with a quarterback sneak on a fourth-and-1 at the UCLA 27. A pass-interference call against UCLA cornerback Matt Clark moved the ball to the 12, and Bramlet found Wadkowski open across the middle. …

“We played a lackluster football game,” second-year UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said. “They (the Cowboys) fought every inch of the way. They made plays at the end of the game and that was the difference.”

The Bruins (6-6) beat New Mexico 27-13 in the 2002 Las Vegas Bowl, the only win in their last five bowl appearances.

See how people from around the globe say Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all the Brendan Loy readers, and a special wish for a wonderful Holiday and happiest of New Years to Brendan.

On a funny note… or at least one you can relate to… our oldest son Will, who just passed the Bar here in California, saw your blog over my shoulder the other night. I told him of your 1L status and he said, “If I had to re-live 1L, I would throw myself over a very high railing.”

He also said to pass this on… It gets MUCH easier after year 1. He also said the trick to doing well as a 1L is to be a good writer, so Brendan, I am sure you will be fine!

Remember that small plane crash just north of Notre Dame’s campus last week? Well, here’s an incredible and moving first-hand account of what happened. (Hat tip: Andrew Leyden.)

You gotta love the irony of this.

Three kids misbehave; their father threatens to sell their gifts on eBay if they don’t quit it. The kids proceed to ignore the threat; in a single day, they “fought one another, used vulgar language and gestured obscenely,” according to dear old Dad. So the Grinchly father carries out his threat and officially steals Christmas (or rather, auctions it off to the highest bidder).

But then — here’s the ironic part — the father, in telling his story to the local newspaper, recalls:

“My first thought was, ‘Oh, (expletive),’ He’s telling me to prove it.”

Nothing like practicing what you preach, eh, Dad?

A newly discovered, quarter-mile-wide asteroid has a 0.33% chance of hitting Earth on Friday, April 13, 2029, according to a NASA scientist.

But “the perceived risk probably will be eliminated once astronomers get more detail about its orbit.” Or so they say. On the other hand, we’re talking about Friday the 13th, people. If there’s ever a day when that 1-in-300 chance would go the wrong way…

I heard the song “Not Me,” by up-and-coming country singer Keni Thomas (who is also an occasional TV military analyst and a veteran of the Battle of Mogadishu), on the radio this evening while driving to Target for some last-minute Christmas shopping, and I immediately loved it — so much so that I waited in the parking lot for several minutes, until the song ended, before going into the store. It’s got the sort of wonderful, haunting harmonies and string accompaniment that will make me fall in love with a song every time. It also features Emmylou Harris and Vince Gill on background vocals! Alas, it’s apparently so new that it’s not available on iTunes yet… but rest assured, when it is, I will be buying it, and it’ll be 99 cents well spent. :)

UPDATE: Aha! I found a RealAudio version of the song, from the official Keni Thomas website.

P.S. You can order the album here. A portion of the proceeds benefit the “Hero Fund,” which raises money toward scholarships and grants for the children of Special Ops soldiers killed in action.

You might notice the new feature in my sidebar at left, a map displaying the locations of the previous day’s visitors, based on their IP addresses.

Pretty nifty, huh? Thanks to Hitmaps for providing this cool service!

My “honorary sis” Kim has been accepted to the Sound of America Honor Chorus, and will be touring six countries in Europe next July, performing in such places as Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris! Yippee!!

I take all the credit; I’ve obviously been such a good influence on her. All hail the honorary big bro! … Okay, okay, her parents might have had a little something to do with it, too… hee hee… :)

Anyway, way to go, Kim!!