So my letter was published in the Post.  They edited it so it lost some of its humor, but the essence is there.  Though it was about the demise of Book World, it was also an appreciation of how Doug navigates his marriage to me, and some of that was edited out.  I've always enjoyed my letter writing when I'm motivated, so I'm glad that the Post can now be an outlet for me.  Who knows what's next!

I've joined Facebook -- mainly I got on to see earlier posts of wedding pics.  All of a sudden people want to be friends with me!  It's interesting, but I'm not sure it will be a communication tool for me the way it is for younger folks.  

I'm in big Amnesty mode right now.  I've been frustrated by how difficult it is to get folks to move on the Special Focus Case.  Or, more accurately, frustrated by my inability to get them to move.  Action is always a hard thing to generate.  I had to wait for the holiday / inauguration blitz to be over, plus the colleges didn't get back into the swing until mid-January.  Last week I put out some emails to local groups inviting myself to come speak -- and I got a good response.  I have 5 events scheduled in the next few weeks.  I get such a kick out of the GW group -- their meeting is tomorrow at 9PM!  Ah, the college schedules.  

Last night we had a group over as part of my church's Circle Suppers.  They form groups of 8 who they hope will be compatible in some respect, and we all will have dinner together 3 times.  It was very fun, plus all I had to do was the main course..made the evening easier on me.  One guy is a Ph.d student in psychology, one works for the IMF, several were retired but doing interesting stuff.  The oldest lady talked about her childhood in Eastern Europe during the war, and how her family had to leave Czechlosvakia (I think getting away from the Russians toward the end of the war) and make their way to Austria, where they ended up in the American sector, and were then able to get here.  She enjoyed telling the story, and it is certainly so far from what any of us have lived.  The family ended up in several refugee camps, but didn't seem to suffer as much as some -- some of the camps were in abandoned villas, but other times they were in sheds.  It seems that they had some money, because they got on and off trains, plus they could pay for her to go to school at various times.  However, they left Czechlosvakia with only what they could carry.