Introducing...

The handsome little guy pictured nearby is the newest member of our family, Hank, the dog! His past is shrouded in mystery, as you may have guessed by those soulful eyes, but one could reasonably surmise that he has some lab and some beagle in there somewhere. As in all the best cases of puppy love, there's some tragedy in his background – loud clippers, a death-defying leap from a high grooming table, a broken leg. Thanks to the care and attention of Auds and Curtis, though, he's back running around like a champ. Auds is a vet, actually; she saved his life, and decided he was the perfect dog for us. And she was right; perfect dog period.

We were already planning a trip down to Lexington to spend 4th of July weekend with Auds and Curt, so we combined an awesome visit – including hiking to some gorgeous views and delicious pizza, a blast of a 4th of July party with horses and the perfect spot to watch dozens of fireworks displays, and just great fun catching up with two of our favorite people – with a trial run for my sinuses. One short doggie drive later, and we had Hank home in Chicago, where he'll be staying with Annie's folks until we have a place that allows dogs in a couple months.

He was originally a Henry, but Hank seems the most apt. We've been floating around some of our favorite variations:

• Hanko Breadcrumbs Edison-Albright


• Hanko Verymuch Edison-Albright


• Hanko American Pasta Sauce Edison-Albright

That last one might be a bit much.

Don't know why...

Three cheers for Panera Bread — provider of hassle-free, strip mall wifi par excellence! Compelled to ask, though, why the world needs a lite-jazz version of Nora Jones’ “Don't Know Why” arranged for saxophone and harmonica. The original was too hard core? Wait — now they're giving the same treatment to Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab.” Someone may be having some fun with me, I suspect. Oh well, baguette sandwich with a side of baguette means all is forgiven!

Anyway, I find myself with a bit of time to catch up on a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy etc. and so forth, here just past the end of the season. (Full disclosure: our tree is still trimmed and burning.) Our schedules wouldn't allow a trip to Pennsylvania, which was a disappointment, but otherwise had a wonderful holiday, including singing at the Christmas eve service, a nice long visit from Nicole, and a grand Sunday-after-Christmas luncheon thrown by Sue and Paul on the occasion of Annie’s guest sermon at St. Luke’s.

But I see you are impatient, so on with the presents (in link form)!

• First is a gift from Paul to the whole internet: How we spent Christmas morning.
• Annie and I also cameoed in a couple (less musical) Christmas videos thanks to a gift from my folks.
• One of our photos and Annie’s eyewitness testimony were used in a French 24 news story about one of our favorite Slovak Christmas traditions.
We're internet celebrities!
• Meanwhile, Slovakia has been handing out presents of its own.

I’m particularly thankful for my pocketwatch from Annie (more on that later) and we're both very grateful for the ornaments from our parents, which made our first Christmas home so special.

Update: Hey, you in the corner! Who eats the soup and leaves behind the bread bowl?

Heads up, Philly people

Assaults on two fronts!

io9.com forewarns of an imminent robot/monster/robot monster invasion, focus: Proximity Gallery, center city, TONIGHT. So be four-armed!(?)

Meanwhile, in Europe, Slovakia has been found in possession of suitable alternatives to Stroehmann's (King-size) white bread and Bob Evans savory breakfast sausage, and evidence suggests that recent tests to "stuffing-ize" these materials have been successful. To re-iterate, Slovakia is now suspected to be fully stuffing capable. Substitutions for scrapple and dried beef remain elusive; further experimentation is expected.

(Actually, we purchased something that could well have been Slovak scrapple, but I couldn't bring myself to try it before it expired.)