Statistically Significant

Another holiday season in the life of Hoxie.

These last couple of weeks just flew by. I was in Fort Lauderdale from the 20th to the 27th, and I had a really nice week off. It was mostly hanging out with the family for the days leading up to Christmas, although I did head over to Brendon’s house one evening and James came over a few times to play Settlers of Catan (seriously great game). The Ackershack is always undergoing repairs and changes, and this break was no exception: my dad and I built a fence and gate for the side of the house that turned out pretty well.

The Christmas experience was great, too. We headed down to church for the 5PM kiddie Christmas Eve service, which somehow managed to cram all of our holiday traditions (Nate and I playing Dots on the program, my dad and I belting out some pretty serious “Silent Night” bass lines, and the Ackerboys dripping hot candle wax onto each other) into one magical hour. After enjoying a pretty classy meal at The Floridian, we dashed home, leapt into bed, and fell asleep by 7:30 PM so that Santa could do his thing. Sure enough, when we awoke the next morning, there were presents galore in the living room. Everyone received some thoughtful gifts; my favorite present was a little guitar amp, strings, and picks from Nate to accompany the Telecaster that I brought back to Boston with me and have been practicing like crazy. (Tell me your favorite guitar song and I just might serenade you the next time I see you.) (Also, I am not worthy of this guitar. It’s beautiful.)

On Saturday afternoon, I organized a beach party that turned out really well. In attendance at various points of the afternoon were Rachel, JZ, Carly, Ed, Emily, Jessie G, Jessie D and Bella, Bliss, Concepcion and her friend, Alex, Vince, Aron, Kyle, Brittany, and James. It was great to see so many friends in one place, and the forecasted stormy weather never came. Ah, going to the beach on the day after Christmas. I miss you sometimes, South Florida.

On Sunday morning, I tried to check in for my afternoon flight, only to discover that it had taken off about 18 hours previously. Oops. I booked another flight that would soon send me on an 11-hour goose chase for Boston, then headed over to Jessie’s house to do something I used to despise but have grown to really enjoy: fishing! Armed with some fresh live shrimp and my mediocre fishing skills, we managed to catch puffers, a crab, and whatever this is. There’s something really nice about sitting on a dock with the sun in the sky and some cool people next to you, trying to outsmart animals with the IQ of ketchup. Great morning

And now I’m back in Boston, where it’s been snowing pretty much non-stop for the last 48 hours and it’s about 6 degrees outside with wind chill. Between the weather and working a shortened week at work, I’ve had a lot of time to think about 2010 and what I hope to accomplish this year. I don’t have a completed list of New Years Resolutions quite yet, but I’ve come up with a few good personal, social, physical, financial, and career-related goals that I’ll probably be sharing sometime soon. Stay tuned, and happy new year!