Counting Down

Last few hours of the year, so I'm doing the normal things -

- Hunting through the Tivo listings for anything great to record relative to the New Year's Celebrations. Why aren't the fireworks in Las Vegas or Kuala Lumpur or Tokyo available? Tivo needs to expand its scope. (Problems of the Idle Rich #472)

- Reading my daughter's biology text so that I can ask her questions about it.

- Making some coffee to keep me awake while doing the aforementioned studying. It actually is interesting; more than when I was a kid. Then again, she has to learn much more complex things than I ever did.

- Thinking about money. We got some bittersweet news -- a combination of a previously-unknown CD of my mother's, the payout from her life insurance policies, and her bank accounts means that our net worth is going to grow to a point where it's a little bit above what we refer to as 'the magic number'. No special significance other than that it ends in all zeroes. It's nice, and we're pleased, but, you know? I'd willingly give it up to avoid the event that allowed it to occur. Still miss her.

- Baking. 'Pecan Tassies' didn't work out -- apparently, they wanted me to use mini-muffin pans; I don't think I need more of those, so I didn't get one, and the result was a tart that hadn't nearly cooled down when I took it from the pan -- but the chocolate and peanut butter cookies came out pretty well. My daughter was surprised that she liked it, as she normally doesn't care for peanut butter. I didn't tell her that I mixed a little Nutella in, too.


Okay, gotta get studying.