01.06.04 5:15pm

First off, happy new year, fellow jerks and nerds.  If you're like me, then you spent your New Year's Eve watching Adult Swim in bed with a cat, a bucket of beef jerky, and a tall bottle of loneliness.

Christmas at the Corcoran home was once again kind of blah.  I got another bunch of weird presents and returned the rest.  At least this year I didn't get a banana-shaped bubble blower thing in my stocking.  In its place were about a hundred gummi pizzas, gummi breakfasts, and just about every other gummi thing you could imagine.  Yes, I am 25 years old.

Anyway, I'm all better now.  On with the show. 

I don't know about you, but I love this time of year.  Early January is when all the best new stuff comes out.

At the North American International Auto Show, for instance, Chevrolet unveiled the 6th generation of the venerable Corvette, which is as cool as I hoped it would be.

As much as I love the C5 (the current car) and hope to own one someday, the C6 is a beautiful car.  I can't wait to see one in person.

January is also a good time for technogeeks like me.  The annual Macworld convention is going on right now in San Francisco.

Steve Jobs announced a bunch of cool new stuff in his keynote address today, including Final Cut Express 2, a new iLife app called GarageBand, and the much anticipated, although somewhat disappointing iPod mini.

The Mac rumor sites had all but promised a 2gb to 4gb mini-iPod that would sell for less than $149, so the $249 4gb iPod mini seems a little pricey.  Especially when you could get a 15gb (fullsize) iPod for $299.  Still, it's kind of neat, and is probably better suited to vigorous activity like running or working out than the hard drive based-iPod.

As noted in my 12.31.03 update, I ventured north to Minneapolis to see a play, and then returned to Kansas City on the 30th.

Then, on the 2nd of January, I flew back to Eden Prairie (where Sonja is from), to attend the wedding of her longtime friend Jackie in Two Harbors, Minnesota.

Two Harbors is about 30 miles northwest of Duluth, and is freaking cold this time of year.

The wedding itself was nice, if not a little strange, but that seems to be the recent trend in weddings (I'm looking at you, Ethan).

After staying in Two Harbors for two nights, we spent an afternoon touring Duluth, where Sonja's dad went to college.  I took some pictures. Then we headed back to Eden Prairie.

That brings me to yesterday, when I was back in the air heading home to Kansas City.

I started out in seat 9B, an aisle seat, on the plane ride home, but through some connections (Sonja's dad is a high-up at the Minneapolis airport), I was bumped up to first class, where I got to enjoy the whole can of Ginger Ale, and not one, but two bags of pretzels.  I will never fly coach again.

Anyway, I lucked out and missed a snowstorm in Iowa, but I did manage to take some pictures out the window of the plane while passing over my home state.

All in all, the holidays were fun, and even if I didn't win a single game of pool against Sonja or her dad, it was good to get away for a while.

Maybe I'll wait until summer before heading up there again, though.