Several interesting things (to me at least) have occurred recently.  For the most part I've been spending my time doing wireless installs and network troubleshooting for Skyweb down in Berkeley Springs.
Robin and her family has had a few rough spots recently.  Her Uncle Lonnie died on the 20th, we had the viewing on the 22nd and the funeral the next day.  The day after, she nailed a deer with her car, and then the day after that, her sister's fiance's great grandfather died.
On more positive note, my friends Matt & Nicole came down on the 23rd and hosted a game night at their parent's house.   We had a good time, up until Trivial Pursuit. I am not a fan of that game, and neither was a few other people.  But otherwise, good times, good times.
Christmas Eve marked 1 full year with Robin, and we went to her church's Christmas Eve service.  Christmas day was another matter altogether.  We opened a couple presents in the morning at Robin's, then she left for work and I was off "on my rounds".
My first stop was at Greg & Tricia's house.  I apparently had arrived before it was time for anyone to arrive, but was able to entertain myself with a Rubik cube for several hours.  I never solved it of course -- except through the technique of moving the stickers around, I am pretty sure it's impossible (anyone that claims otherwise is lying).  The next stop was at the Clarke's.  They had finished up their gift exchange and meal time by then, but once again, I was faced with a daunting puzzle.  This time, it was a wood puzzle that you take apart and put back together.  I was able to get it apart, but in two hours I had made little progress in getting it back together.  I did get some interesting shapes made, but nothing quite matching the original.  A very puzzling day so far.  The third and final stop of the day was back at Robin's for the Christmas dinner.
Thursday was the next Christmas party in a series.  This one was my family's Christmas, up at Lisa's in E-town.  Robin went with me (of course) and we rode up with Mom & Dad, spending the night.  Somehow, Robin wasn't scared away by the entire family showing up -- but they said they would try harder next time.
Finally, as if 4 Christmas's wasn't enough, on Saturday we went to the Carson's Family Christmas up in Freedom, PA.  I was supposed to meet a lot of the Robin's family on her Mom's side, but no one else felt like showing up, so it was a pretty small gathering.

1. Always avoid alliteration.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. Avoid cliches like the plague—they're old hat.
4. Employ the vernacular.
5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
7. Parenthetical words however must be enclosed in commas.
8. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
9. Contractions aren't necessary.
10. Do not use a foreign word when there is an adequate English quid pro quo.
11. One should never generalize.
12. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
13. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
14. Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
15. It behooves you to avoid archaic expressions.
16. Avoid archaeic spellings too.
17. Understatement is always best.
18. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
19. One-word sentences? Eliminate. Always!
20. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
21. The passive voice should not be used.
22. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
23. Don't repeat yourself, or say again what you have said before.
24. Who needs rhetorical questions?
25. Don't use commas, that, are not, necessary.
26. Do not use hyperbole; not one in a million can do it effectively.
27. Never use a big word when a diminutive alternative would suffice.

28. Subject and verb always has to agree.
29. Be more or less specific.
30. Placing a comma between subject and predicate, is not correct.
31. Use youre spell chekker to avoid mispeling and to catch typograhpical errers.
32. Don't repeat yourself, or say again what you have said before.
33. Don't be redundant.
34. Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.
35. Don't never use no double negatives.
36. Poofread carefully to see if you any words out.
37. Hopefully, you will use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
38. Eschew obfuscation.
39. No sentence fragments.
40. Don't indulge in sesquipedalian lexicological constructions.
41. A writer must not shift your point of view.
42. Don't overuse exclamation marks!!
43. Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.
44. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
45. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
46. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
47. Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
48. Always pick on the correct idiom.
49. The adverb always follows the verb.
50. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.
51. If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be by rereading and editing.
52. And always be sure to finish what

For my part, I can't believe that August is already here. Wait.. it's December? Well, so much for having all that spare time.
Anyways, I've updated a lot of pictures from the last several months, so feel free to check them out.
Robin and I went to this year's Marine Corp Ball and had a blast. I went in an actual suit this year -- it was picked out to match Robin's dress. She decided to go all out and get a brand new dress just for this occasion, which I thought was a bit overkill, but who am I to judge such things? Anyways, she looked amazing, but even with all that, some of my old buddies from the unit recognized me. They seemed a bit jealous of me wearing a comfortable suit, while sporting a slightly trimmed beard. I even got Robin to do some fast dancing before the night was over, though it took an open bar to get her to that stage.
The next day, Chris, Jess, Robin, and myself went to see the Glass Blowing Center in Hilliards, PA. It was quite interesting to see how glass sculptures are made.. not at all from a mold. Unlike carving, where you remove all the extra stuff, with glass you can add and take away as you need.
On another note, I'm trying to research on how to move a slate-top pool table. If anyone has any experience in this, please let me know. Thanks.