Perhaps the most exciting part of this holiday break was not the same old Chinese-styled potluck with the extended family back in New York on Thanksgiving day, or the equally-traditional pilgrimage to the shopping mall the next day, or even the incredibly incredible Incredibles animated feature we watched Saturday night. It was last night, when Melody and I were walking down the very street I live on, when it happened. It was around 2am in the morning and the winter cold was bearing down upon us. The streets were dead quiet as we were crossing an intersection. All of the sudden, we heard the sound of screeching tires as a police car raced down the street, drifting slightly as it turned the corner. As we watched the flashing blue lights speed into the distance, we heard once again the sound of rubber grinding upon the pavement. Before we could even make out what was going on, we saw a small red sedan charging back along the same street, followed quickly after by that same police car but driving in reverse! Behind them were three other police cars, ominously following with flickering blue lights and no sirens. The whole thing happened in the matter of seconds, and we were left with nothing but the smell of burnt rubber. Having grown up in New York City (in Brooklyn, no less), it’s ironic that the first police chase I witnessed would happen in the quiet town of Brookline. Who would’ve thunk?

The past 2 weeks have been extremely intense. I had to crank out a revised manuscript for lab, edit one from our friends from Biogen, grade a stash of exams for the class I’m teaching, and prepare for a thesis advisory committee meeting … all while keeping up with all the movies I rented from Hollywood Video, of course, now that I’m paying $10 bucks a month for their MVP program. I must say that this whole unlimited movie rental business is starting to feel more like a curse, where I just feel like I’ve GOT to get more movies to make it worthwhile. Meanwhile, Melody’s been on night shift so I’ve barely been able to see her for more than an hour a day. Fortunately, things are finally beginning to shape up. I completed my TAC meeting yesterday with flying colors, followed by an hour of free pool for an HST TGIF, and some Indian food to celebrate a friend’s b-day. Today, I got a call from my boss, and despite almost peeing in my pants thinking I was in some sort of trouble, was told that our manuscript has been accepted for publication! Woohoo! (a la Homer Simpson) And just to make life a tad sweeter, my new desktop upgrades finally arrived too. After tonight, my computer will be sporting an Athlon 64-bit 3000+ processor, the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum mobo, 1 Gig of dual-channel Corsair RAM, a pair of Seagate Barracudas for a RAID 0 stripe, and an NEC dual-layer DVD burner. What more can a geek-boy like me ask for? … except maybe a couple of WD raptors just in case Santa’s reading my blog. Anyway, I expect this baby to be running so fast I’ll have to bolt it to the floor! Though the goodies did set me back a couple of hundred dollars, I figure that even little old me needs a bit of pampering once in a while. =)

So it has appeared that the big fat elephant has trampled over our poor donkey once more. With Republicans retaining control of the Senate, Congress, and the White House again, and opponents of gay marriage gaining grounds each day, I’m fearful of what our country will become. The next thing you know, we’ll be banning over-pigmented people from schools, and making Y-chromosomes an eligibility requirement for voting. Resistance is futile… give in to the dark side of the force.