I may have said this last year, but the cool thing about watching snow from a very tall building is that the snow lifts upward instead of falling downward up here. I think there must be currents of warmer air next to the buildings, and they take the snow up. Eventually it hits the ground.

Sorry I didn't take the time to do the sappy New Year thing yesterday. I decided to install an asset management program called Cumulus 5 and try to begin the process of cataloging all my digital photos. Big project. But I can give you the rundown on our New Year's Eve and New Year.

We had to call the cops on one of Stan's party guests because he was firing a pistol in the air right out in front of our house. To call this sort of macho behavior retarded or moronic is to insult retards and morons. Do idiots like this think those bullets just evaporate when they get up in the air? I remember one January at our old house, stopping by our favorite coffeeshop, and having one of the owners point out a .45 cal. slug drilled into the deck. One of those rounds that some pencil-dicked, overcompensating, bag of festering testosterone shot into the air. I could've been sitting there if Dana and Ahkiba had decided to have a little New Year's Eve gathering. And which is easier for a bullet to go through, do you think? Your flesh and bone, or pressure treated deck planks?

Unfortunately, when Jake yelled at the guys to cut it out, the offenders got into their car and drove away. So we cancelled the cop call.

Anyway, I had to have a little talk with Stan the next day. Told him I didn't ever want to see that guy again, that it was dangerous to do stuff like that, and told him that I had called the police but cancelled the call when the guys drove off. Stan let me know that the offender was somebody his brother had invited, that he'd told the boys "no shooting", and that he wished the cops had gotten here in time to arrest the scumbag. Stan isn't going to invite his brother over to his house anymore.

Yeah, we live in the hood now.

A weird kinda hood. I also saw what I think might've been a falcon on New Year's Eve. It was sitting on a power line two blocks from the house, all plumped up. I drove around the block twice to look at it, drove around a third time, stopping at the house to grab my camera, and of course it was gone then. I tried to find it in my Eastern Birds guide, but it doesn't seem to match any of the falcons or hawks exactly. The tailfeathers were right, but the one I saw just had a light dusting of orange on its light colored breast. All the ones in my guide seem to have detailed marks on the breast. It was only about crow size, which is what makes me think it might've been a falcon. I couldn't get a good look at its head.

Let's see. Other than the shootout on Lesbian Lane, it was a quiet New Year's Eve. The Rancho girls shared champagne and queso dip and chips (not highly recommended combination), watched South Park, and kissed each other at midnight. Then we turned in pretty quickly after that.

Jake and Sara left for Jake's parent's house yesterday. This morning I took care of four dogs. The shih-tzus, Lucy and Ricky's ancient, arthritic chocolate Lab (they brought him up about a month ago from Ricky's parents' farm, basically to let him die in comfort instead of in the huntin' dog kennel), and Angel.

Deb and I went to see "Am�lie", which was wonderful. The theater is in Buckhead, and parking is always a pain. We entered the parking lot behind a Honda Civic. The Honda took the left, we took the right. I thought I saw the Honda honing in on a spot right away. I continued to look for one, going counterclockwise over to the left side of the lot, saw an open space and started to go for it. There was the Civic, headed for the same spot. I stopped and waved her on. She was in the lot before we were. I found another spot closer to the entrance anyway. This is a tiny parking lot, so it's not like it made much of a difference.

Anyway, after the film, as we were walking back into the lot, the woman from the Honda caught up to us to thank us for letter her have the slot. And then I saw that someone had double-parked on me. Fucker. I was able to get out eventually, but only after much wrenching with the Saturn's non-power steering and many threats to key the car that blocked me in. The niceness of the lady from the Civic and the enjoyment I got from the movie, and the gorgeous honey sitting next to me helped me drop my annoyance over the double-parking bastard pretty quickly, though.

Also on New Year's Day, Deb and Jake went for a walk around noonish and found a Smith&Wesson holster on the side of the street (not our street). They brought it home for me, and it was the perfect size for my Smith&Wesson .38 caliber revolver, which I'd been storing inside a ripped-off shirt sleeve. Cool. It was actually a fortuitous find because it made me pull out my revolver and check it. I'd left it untouched on the shelf so long that the chamber release was stuck. Some oil and some WD-40 later everything was working properly.

Deb and I had a lovely dinner of turnip greens, black-eyed peas, and pork chops. Just us. Really nice.

She says that with the snow, she'll probably close the wine store early tonight. Says they've got no business now. They'll get some later on, but then it will taper to nothing. Jake and Sara are supposed to be returning from Columbus tonight, but the snow's supposed to be worse further south than it is here (an unusual meteorologic occurrence). I hope their travel conditions are okay.