Meta: It’s been a while since I’ve updated this. The hard drive in my laptop is on its way to the great hardware dustbin in the sky, and thus was unable to use it at all over Christmas. I made a valiant attempt to revive it when I got home, to no luck. So I’ve moved over my ChangeLog onto another computer for the short term.

Mystery Hunt: This weekend was the annual MIT mystery hunt, and the first that I’ve been able to attend in person since moving to North Carolina. It’s also the first time I haven’t been on the Random Hall team, but instead formed a team with a couple of other alums.

I had forgotten just how much fun this could be in person. We weren’t a particularly competitive team given our small size, but we did alright solving some puzzles. I got tired, went home, and slept for fifteen hours, which is a clear sign that I am not going to be competitive with undergraduates anymore. It lasted through early this morning.

More information on past mystery hunts can be found at: http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/hunthistory.html

Football: The Patriots are headed back to the Superbowl!!! This should salve the wounds of the local Red Sox fanatics a little bit.

Football (commentators): Joe Buck is a pretty good commentator and generally improves the quality of the Fox broadcasts. However, his “nothing says hard-nosed, smash-mouth football like the music of James Taylor” comment last night left me scratching my head.

Plumbing: During the recent cold weather snap, we had a pipe freeze in the downstairs bathroom ceiling. The plumber had to put a large hole in that ceiling to fix it. The water ruined the kitchen ceiling as well. The insurance will cover some of it, but this is still a big pain.