What made you smile today?

My wife told me today that my sister and her husband are spending New Year's Day with us. We have family and friends over for New Year's gochiso (fancy meal).

That sounds lovely. I hope you’ll share pictures.

I'll try to remember.

A while back, I got the deed to my property. So I felt I had a real stake in my community. The street between my home and the neighborhood entrance had not been cleaned up in years. So I got one of them grabber things to keep from bending over, bought a large quantity of bags and set out to pick up all the trash. It took weeks to get it up. These days, I walk it every Monday. People occasionally stop to thank me and my neighbor gives me organic eggs in appreciation. Yesterday, I was on my porch when a white truck stopped in my driveway. I could not see the driver, but knew I did not know the person. He met me at the gate and handed me a gift card. He said he had told his wife, "Got to get it for the man that cleans up the neighborhood." The man was Mexican, likely in his fifties. It made my day.

Good on ya, eb. We need more citizens like you!

Thanks. I don't actually do it for rewards or applause, but the encouragement from these folks helps keep me motivated.

I know that. It's the reason why I admire you as a person and friend.

Thanks, CI. As you already know, I think of you as one of the best persons I know of.

edgar, Not only are you a very good kid (highest praise from my father), but you're also a significant mensch.

The admiration is mutual. These are the sort of exchanges that keep me on a2k.

Dave Barry's "The Year in Review" article.

Wry smile.
The convenience store I frequent and sometimes buy scratch offs from, shortly before I came in. A man bought a two dollar ticket and won $30,000 off it. I always feel good when the other fella does well. I would feel good also if I could duplicate his feat.

Getting my shallow draft kayak propulsion system off the drawing board.
A few tweaks and a proof of concept isn't far away.

Thanks for the kind words. I try to behave myself on a2k. Offline, I'm more mezzo-mezzo.

Text I got from a female Mexican friend, S.

She's a single mom, son M is I think 16.
He went to Minnesota last year as an exchange student.

The culture there is that grown children can live at home as long as they want, and it's unacceptable to express to them, or other family and friends, that you would like them to them to leave.
M has expressed that he would be totally fine living at home forever.

Since I'm American, S has felt comfortable talking to me about how once he reaches 18 she wishes he would go on his own, so that she could live a different life. Quite frankly, have some fun. She's tired on sacrificing everything, and was depressed as there didn't seem to be an end to always putting someone else first. If she said any of this to other Mexicans, she would be looked at as a bad mother/person.

So I smiled when I asked her if M. came home for Xmas, and she said "No! And we don't miss each other at all!"

Well, family members from Northern California came to our home for New Year's festivities to enjoy some good companionship and lots of food. I think there were 15 people yesterday. Was happy to see my sister and her husband travel from the Sacramento Valley to drive over. My wife's family came to keep it interesting and festive. Happy New Year to every one.

Pics, CI? Your family is so interesting, and your sister is lovely.

Lash, Sorry, but I forgot all about the photo. Happy New Year to you and yours.

My property taxes for the 1400 sq ft home in San Miguel de Allende?

$118.94 for the year.

That's less than my property management fee for the month, but I need them.

My friend E is going to be 5 next week. I went to her house today to have lunch with her, her mom and her Baby Brother (she calls him that). After lunch we worked on a 3D dollhouse puzzle and she brushed and styled my hair. Then for superfun I went along to her Mixed Martial Arts classes. She is so good! In her private class, her instructor spends about half the class working on her self-defense skills. She could totally break someone's thumb and then knock them over using her very low/solid leverage.

Biggest smile was watching Baby Brother watch the group class doing burpees and bear walks across the floor. Just about 3 months old and he was just following the kid movement and noise and laughing. Hard not to smile when he laughs. He still startles himself a bit as he's learning that's his voice making those sounds.