Day 341 (Saturday, 1/1): Welcome, 2011!

The recent batch of late posts has been caused by some wonky internet connection around here. Since Thursday, our DSL connection has been going in and out. At first, I thought the bad weather must have caused some damage somewhere, especially since we saw some AT & T workers poking around, but the weather has been fine lately, the workers are gone, and our connection is still off. So now we think it might be our six-year-old modem because we can get connection when we're using the the land line. A technician is coming out on Thursday, and right now Tom and I have the dial tone going on the phone, so we can get a some Web time.

The bad internet connection was a very minor hiccup in an overall good start to 2011. The Alliance woke up early Saturday morning and drove into downtown LA to meet up with our good friends, Katy and Mike. Katy and I were classmates at both Scripps and at UCR, and she and Mike now live in Northern California. Every time we see them, Tom and I bemoan the fact that we're so far away from them because they are just good people. We met up for a late breakfast at an unbelievably adorable little cafe, the Alcove Cafe and Bakery on Hillhurst. If you are ever in LA or the next time you're in LA, you seriously have to check this place out. I don't, however, recommend bringing your toddler. While the place features a great outdoor garden patio, the indoor seating is very cozy, and LB accidentally kicked a table over. Fortunately, "Aunty Kay" deftly caught a plate of food and while a cup of coffee did hit the floor, the cup was so sturdy, nothing actually broke. Phew!

Afterward, we wandered over to the nearby Skylight Books, and LB got a few new board books, including one by Leslie Patricelli entitled Baby Happy, Baby Sad.
I feel like LB can really identify with the book's protagonist.



Here she is in her little "couch nest" reading with Elmo.
As for my reflection at the start of 2011 . . . well, Tom and I did not really make resolutions this year. Tom claims he doesn't believe in them. And I'll finish my dissertation in 2011, and I feel like that is enough of a goal for anyone. Why heap more work up on top of that?