And now for something completely different

On Monday of this week, the high was 55° and the weather was gorgeous. Today, the high was 4. Wind chills last night hit -35. Needless to say, that's really cold.

In the past, January and February have always seemed like the dreariest months of the year, and the kind of weather we're having today only serves to bolster that. But one particular sign has been very encouraging over the past few weeks: the days are getting longer, and there's now some daylight left when I'm driving home from work. Living in the northern parts of the country definitely makes you notice, and appreciate, the amount of sunlight that you get.

While we were making dinner this evening, I started to tell Wendy about a Rolling Stones song I heard recently that I'd never heard before, but really liked. She stopped, looked up, and started singing But don’t play with me, ’cause you’re playing with fire, which was exactly the song I was about to describe to her. It turns out that one morning earlier this week we were both driving to work at the same time, listening to the same radio station, heard the same song, which neither of us had heard before, and both really liked it. That cracked us up. As you can probably guess, the song is called Play With Fire.

In other news, we're looking into buying a house in the coming months! Housing prices in this part of Illinois are still fairly expensive since we're close to Chicago, but it's not quite as expensive as the Boulder area in Colorado.

And, finally, I finished reading The Count of Monte Cristo several nights ago. It was incredibly good, and I found it interesting to note just how much the Count is like a 19th century Batman (or more correctly that Batman is a 20th century Count): Tragedy befalls both of them in their youth, they disappear into the Orient where they develop their skills, they re-emerge into society incredibly wealthy and mysterious, they both have hidden caves, both are masters of disguise, some people think they're vampires, and, most importantly, they both have an unquenchable thirst for vengeance. Despite the similarities, though, I would venture to suggest that both characters are unique and unforgettable. Bravo Messieurs Dumas and Kane, on jobs well done!