Aaaand it’s Xmas Eve, the day after Festivus. Five hours to flight time and it still looks like we’ll leave Louisville today. Our aircraft is in flight, on its way from LA to Chicago. From Chicago it comes to Louisville, and then heads back west to Phoenix. With us aboard. The transition in Chicago is the most likely point of failure, so we’ll see. It’ll be fine either way.

Meanwhile it’s time to clean up, do laundry, get rid of perishables in the fridge, repack, set the thermostats appropriately, fuel up the car and ourselves, and take one last drive in the crunchy snow. I’ve gotten to be an expert in the “buttoning up the house” checklist. Maybe I should do a TED talk on that.

Back in Socal I plan on playing a lot of golf. Now that I’m getting in better shape, I’ll walk the courses whenever possible. Cardio plus fun, that’s the ticket.

It’s too early for the usual list of New Year’s resolutions and subsequent failures, but I have started thinking about it. How can you not think about it when you’re aware that you don’t have that much time left, big picture. Every day I read about some 60 year old celebrity who ran out of runway, died “way too soon”. It’s depressing and energizing at the same time. A bit like playing golf.