A brand new year: 2009

It's now 3 days into Jan. 2009 and for most of the new year I've had a really bad head cold that I haven't been able to shake. It was inevitable that I'd pick up something over the break--historically winter break is when I get sick--in fact, I can't think of a winter break that I didn't pick up some cold/virus/flu. The combination of the end of the semester plus cold/flu season plus traveling usually means my immune system is ripe for picking up a bug or two. And I'm not sure whether it was the flight to California or coming back that gave me this head cold. Or the many friends and relatives I saw. Or the public transportation system that I used in the Bay Area. Or just the fact that once I finally returned home to the South and could let myself truly unwind and wind down that my body decided enough was enough--I needed to just rest.

Which means over the last three days I've been sleeping over 10 hours a day and my body is still achey and my head feels like it's stuffed up with cotton.

Not conducive for doing a lot of blogging or, more importantly to my overall career goals, writing an article that I'm hoping to finish before the beginning of the semester.

So I'm in my home office with a mug of my favorite green tea (organic ginger-peach) and a determination to at least try to start the introduction of this article. And of course I thought I shouldn't let this opportunity pass by to wish everyone a happy new year. Because 2009 is bound to be a momentous year. How could it not? Especially because if you are a political junkie, then you know this upcoming inauguration on January 20 is going to be monumental in so many ways.

And on that note, I'd like to send you all to a link to The New York Times (click here). I'd embed it, but I don't think the Times allows you do embed their multimedia stories. This one is a video about the 2008 presidential campaign--it's a bit lengthy (I think it ran to about 10 minutes) but for those of you enthralled in the minutiae of the campaign, from the pre-primary season through to election day mayhem, you'll want to check it out.

HAPPY 2009!!!