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I write this in the new year. It is cold (teens or -8C) and clear skies, with about 2 inches of powdery snow. Deborah and I stayed at her house and had a quiet New Year’s.

Starting from the beginning of the last day of 2025 for me, I rose later and just had coffee as we had breakfast with Deborah’s friend Carol in Clawson, Michigan. I did not finish the blog as I had not risen early enough.

I had also popped over to Kaggle.com and looked at the contests and options. I will take the courses for programming (free) just to get my skills sharpened, though I often discover that my skills now do not fade, be it programming or figure painting, and usually are better after a break. Still, it would be good to get credit for taking classes and to see if anything new has come up that I have missed. My Notebook work is a bit weak, too.

One contest involves solving math problems, the annual AI Mathematical Olympiad, which was won by NVIDIA‘s team last year, with a prize of millions of dollars, and already 10,000+ teams are working on it. Another, less well-financed and with fewer teams, is to translate Akkadian into English, which also got my attention. Any solution will involve language handling (the math problems are in LaTeX, and the Akkadian uses obscure Unicode characters), but with limited examples and deep complexity. Just applying an existing Large Language Model is not going to get you there.

The math problem supplies extra powerful servers, which get my attention, too. Love to get my virtual hands on those (for free!). Dear reader, these problems are the edge of technology and fascinate me. Assuming success, having a math problem solver for non-trivial challenges will improve our existing AI, and real-time Akkadian would help us understand the past.

Back to the story, it was still snowing slowly and had been dropping a pretty powder all morning (and would continue until the evening). The traffic is lighter for the holidays (most folks in the car industry and education have the holidays off), and we arrive without issue in Deborah’s mini.

We had a nice chat and breakfast with Carol, though her vegan choices are limited. I had the hash, and Deborah had Eggs Florentine with grits that I regretted missing on the menu, but I had plenty. Carol and Deborah got caught up on various theater items. Carol is still doing local theater.

Next, after Deborah and I said goodbye to Carol, we headed back to Deborah’s house and watched some more shows, and were a bit sleepy from all the breakfast. We luxuriated on Deborah’s couch, watched shows, petted the dogs, and had too much caramel corn (thanks, Kathy and Martin!). Sometimes it feels good to relax and watch the snow fall between binging something on Paramount+ (Elsbeth in this case).

For New Year’s Eve, we headed out after Liam (Deborah’s younger son) had left for a day or so. Donovan (the older son) had a later local party, and we said our “Happy New Year’s” as Deborah and I headed out to find Spanish Coffee.

We found a bar open, and they made a good hot drink, but without whipped cream (which, with the amount of sugar this holiday, was fine). The bar was full of noise from too many screens with the volume on.

We escaped the noise and spent some time together before returning to Deborah’s house, where the dogs were happy to see us. We watched and cried a lot while watching the musical Hamilton (Deborah had not seen it before) on Disney+. Recommended (especially with CC on). I had forgotten how hard the ending of a musical is with its truth-telling.

We kissed, as most folks do, to bring in the New Year. We are excited to be together in 2026.

Back at the hotel after Deborah braved the roads after midnight, I read for a while in 2026, but soon sleep found me (I am still running late as I cannot get used to this time zone).

Thanks for reading! Welcome to 2026!

We kept our plans simple on Tuesday, and I rose late at the hotel and had to rush to get breakfast. Deborah has an appointment, and I was fine writing the blog, eating a fine, if not industrial, breakfast at the IHG hotel, and then editing my Dungeons & Dragons adventure I used in New Hampshire, with plans to post it on DriveThruRPG as a pay-what-you-want (including $0) item. Deborah’s appointment ran over, but I was fine editing and rewriting.

Deborah then picked me up in her mini, and we headed, slightly rushed, directly to the movie theater. Wicked 2 was selling out, and we had to buy tickets the night before for 1:15. Tuesday is the cheap movie day with free popcorn for members. The lines for food were long but moved fast. Emagine has a pizza oven and makes what I would call an authentic pizza, not an industrial frozen reheat, and they deliver to your seats. Armed with non-cost popcorn, coffee for Deborah (from their full-service bar ready to serve you various cocktails named for the holidays), and water in cups, we headed to our seats: Full recliners with heat.

We scarfed pizza while Wicked: For Good played on a vast screen with excellent sound. The movie was superb, and all the actors sang and acted well, making the fantasy feel so real. The camera work, CGI, and actors interacted seamlessly, reminding me of the later LOTR films. We cried through one song, and that showed how well the movie worked; it seemed so real.

I have not read the books; someone waved me away from them, but Deborah says they are good. I will take them up in 2026 (though that is the same as saying Thursday, it will be later in 2026). We headed to Deborah’s house to let the dogs out and to feed them.

We were hungry and headed to Lucky’s for a prime rib dinner. Deborah’s sons were not hungry and declined to join us. We waited 20 minutes for a table (plus/minus), and our 16 oz slices were likely 120% of that, and we did not get near to reducing them by half. We planned on reheating prime rib for a quiet New Year’s at Deborah’s. It was a nice crowd there, and everyone was friendly. But our waiter made some mistakes, and when Deborah asked for water, she told us we would have to wait until they had some clean glasses. Water came a bit later. It was busy and chaotic, and our waiter was doing a long shift. Still, it was great, and our leftovers were heavy. Liam, Deborah’s son, sent in a request by text for a sandwich to go, which Deborah got. It was Deborah’s treat today (pizza and prime rib); thanks!

Soon I was back at the hotel after dropping off the sandwich and back to watching the BBC Documentary on the recent conclave with on Cardinal explaining a few misses in the movie by the same name. I read some news, emails, and soon in bed and quickly slept, a surprise to me.

Thanks for reading!

 

Deborah had some chores, and I wrote the blog on Monday morning. I had overslept a bit, but managed to make breakfast in the lobby before it closed. There, I spoke to Kurt, the staff member responsible for the food on weekdays, and wrote the blog in the lobby. Somehow I missed until later to post it on Facebook.

Deborah picked me up at the hotel in her blue mini, and we headed north to Lansing to see Mom Wild. Leta has a cold, and we may work out another day, after she feels better, to see her. It is cold and with significant winds (there are warnings on the signs on the highways about high winds and slow blowing). Deborah is skilled at winter driving in her mini and has good winter tires.

The conditions get worse as we travel, and the air is full of white a few times. Nothing that phases Deborah, she has seen (and driven) in worse, but we go slower than we planned. There is a jack-knifed semi and various cars in the shallow ditch and in the wide medians of Michigan’s highways. We switch from northbound to westbound highways without issue, but the snow obscures much of the view.

I texted Linda with updates and learned that Jessie, Meg, and Linda are joining us, and they decided to pick up Mom Wild at Haslette Point Senior Living, as we are running slower. We arrive actually at the planned time of noon, having started early. We meet everyone at The Olive Garden, a mile from the facility.

I had $200 in gift cards from Delta Airlines to spend from giving up my seat on an overbooked flight (I have a $500 credit for a flight too). We had lunch (and some dinner) and chatted. Linda gave Deborah and me our presents. We just enjoyed lunch together.

After a couple of hours and a few rounds of soup, salad, and breadsticks for some of us, we left after I paid, following a somewhat confusing but workable process to scan each QR code for the digital cards. The on-table paying prints a ticket for each card used. I used three with some value left on one.

Deborah and I met Jesse and Mom Wild at Haslette Pointe (Mom is in room A-9). If you, dear reader, want to send a card, here is her address:

Haslett Pointe Senior Living
C/O Barbara Wild Room A-9
5346 Marsh Road
Haslett, Michigan 48840

We sat in chairs and chatted for another ninety minutes. Deborah and I stayed with Mom until about 4, as the weather did not improve or degrade much. We said our tearful goodbye and then headed east. We had dinner with Barb C and family at 5:30.

Irene’s in Grand Blanc serves European-style food, including goulash and similar dishes. The service is slow and confused, and the drinks were awful (stick to beers or soft drinks). The food, late, was hot and delicious, and much was soon forgiven. The price tag was at home in Portland, still excellent, and I would do it again.

Barb C (Susie’s sister), Emma (daughter), and Gordon (husband) shared with Deborah and me their experiences in Ireland and other travels. We covered some of our experiences in Iceland, our big trip this year, and then we talked about their trip to Italy some time ago. They visited the crash site of Ben’s WW2 plane (Barb C’s and Susie’s father).  Gordon covered what we know about the crash and how the plane did not release its bomb (destroying the village) and instead crashed with the bombs unexploded in the mountain, killing the pilot and co-pilot. The town had a monument to the plane and its crew (including Ben) that refused to bomb them. They met people who witnessed the plane crash, visited the site, and Emma found bits of the plane. Gordon is still in contact with folks from the village.

Barb and Gordon’s plans are unsettled, like ours, for 2026, but we might overlap and meet somewhere.

Emma will be visiting me in Oregon soon. She is headed to graduate school in Oregon and may need a room, or at least a nearby relative, to help. More to come on that.

With smiles and photos, we headed out in separate ways, and only once did a terrible driver get too close to Deborah’s mini on the snowy roads. I was dropped off at the hotel and soon fell asleep after watching more videos on the epochs before the Dinosaurs.

Thanks for reading!

 

Deborah and I had breakfast late, for us, together at the hotel. It was the usual industrial afair, but still ‘free’ is still a good flavor. Deborah had the oatmeal, and I always remember the IHG in Georgia that had a sign taped over the oatmeal and brand that said simply, ‘Grits.’ With butter available to add. Excellent. And I also remember the older building in New Hampshire that did not serve breakfast potatoes but had NYC-like bagels. And while I only, despite all my visits, Gold, IHG hotels are comfortable enough for me. Though a balcony on the Le Richelieu in New Orleans cannot be beat (but no breakfast), and there is no IHG in the Quarter.

We headed out later to catch a movie, going slow as I wanted a ‘day off’ from rushing and traveling, but Wicked 2 was sold out, surprising as it has been out for a while. Instead, we went to Deborah’s house, where Trixie was happy to receive hours of pets as we watched Elsbeth’s second season (the show is on season three). Elsbeth is Columbo-style, with the murderer known to the watcher and the story being how the police and Elsbeth finally crack the case. Nathan Lane was a murderous opera goer in the first show. Excellent.

We played Loud Librians, a new game that Deborah received for Christmas. We call out words that start with a letter in a chain, and according to a card like ‘Mexican Food,’ for example. It was hard to think of some words with three letters on the chain to the topic. Deborah won with my score half of her’s or less. Still, it was fun and got your brain working after being drowned in drink and holiday food. The dark and gray weather, which rained most of the day, sometimes heavily, made it a slow and sleepy day.

Pizza (mushrooms with meat) was delivered for dinner on a thin crust, and it was excellent. More Elsbeth, while Deborah’s boys stirred; they had a holiday party and then picked up the house after (it looked good) and had little, if any sleep (plus the effects of booze and holiday foods).

Deborah returned me to my hotel in the evening and then got a note about seeing, after the New Year, a display on the creatures (monsters) before the dinosaurs. I then spent an hour on the Permian and the Great Dying, the worst of the five great extinction events, 251.8 million years ago (we have exact dating, an update I did not know).

Utah shows some of the remains of the supercontinent Pangea (it has weathered to that level in places), and the Great Dying is evident in rock layers above a Permian coal seam. Not sure, I could find it on a pile of dirt in Utah, but I suspect it is pointed out in some parks there with signs. We expect to be in Utah in April-March on Deborah’s biz trip (though, like most biz trips, it is always speculative), so maybe we can walk some of Permian and Pangea when we are there. Something to watch for if we get there.

I read more on Wikipedia and remembered to make my annual donation, which includes many theories and discusses their acceptance and disputes. Generally, it is accepted that volcanic flows in what is now Russia lasted for a million years and destroyed most of Earth’s life. It is not known whether something caused the flows (e.g., a meteor hit) or whether another related runaway process poisoned the earth, possibly triggered by the metals released into the lava seas that covered the land. Rich deposits of iron and nickel in Russia are found in the lava flows.

I had not returned to this topic in years, and I was fascinated by the new work and the theories.

It was after 10 before I put on my PJs and curled up, and was going to think about some Dungeons and Dragons design, but fell right to sleep. I woke once and fell back asleep. I woke to my alarm, all my dreams forgotten, but I imagine I walked Pangea as a tourist in my dreams.

Thanks for reading!

 

Deborah and I stayed up late, going backwards in this narrative, watching Wake Up Dead Man. This is a “Knives Out Mystery” and now on Netflix, and was the first true who-dun-it I think of in the series, I think. As the show goes forward in the storytelling (the slow reveal of an excellent mystery), it calls out many of the books on locked-room mysteries (one I am reading now).

These are my favorite type of murder mystery, and I direct you, dear reader, to Tom Meade, who writes excellent new versions (though set in the 1920s UK). I also thought it was the first time that Daniel Craig fit into his character. Glen Close was excellent. The acting was superb, and the camera work showed what the main character, the “killer” priest, saw. Deborah believes it is the best of the series. Recommended.

Before this, we were at Ernie’s for dinner, a new place with a Greek direction. We sat at the bar, having two drinks each (starting with Spanish Coffees). We had some flash-fried thin-cut veggie slices with tzatziki sauce that were to die for. We enjoyed our visit to the bar, and our table was ready just short of the promised hour wait.

A high-top table and hard chairs make the bar louder but more comfortable. Hmmm. Our waiter was attentive, and we had a wonderful dinner with Deborah going for chicken and me lamb chops. Greek lemon potatoes cannot be beat (see this video), and their version was great. We shared a cream cake dessert that was wonderful, too.

 

Before this, we were at a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert, and I am sorry to say it is unlikely I will return. The friendly Christmas story is now a confused mess, with one wondering if ChatGPT wrote the story, or worse, it did not. The music was sifted, lifted, and reformatted to fit a more Christian theme, and references to war and discrimination were removed from the original versions I have seen. The imagery is now AI-generated, as the original artist has passed away and was replaced, according to their band’s information, with AI, and it shows all the awful hallmarks of poor AI generation (hands like claws and illogical and Cartoon-like structures that would embarrass Disney to use). Their music, when they returned to their older material, was excellent, and you could sometimes feel the original pulse and edginess of the old TSO shows. A real mixed bag now, and seemed heavily “laundered” for a selected audience. Souless. Not recommended, sadly.

Little Caesars Arena in Detroit was excellent, and they had a screen showing folks walking in and hockey players skating onto it. This is the home of Detroit Hockey. While we just did popcorn and a pretzel, the food looked good. The staff was excellent, with everyone friendly and helpful, always with a smile.

We parked after looping around some closed roads and had pre-paid parking. We were with a crowd when we learned we needed to join the outside line, since it was for box seats and the like. We tried the other staircase to find locked doors and no easy access. We were worried at first that we were locked in the stairs, but the door on the second floor does not even have a lock. We soon walked to the wrong line, and then finally to the usual person line (we had regular tickets). We waited only a few minutes outside after getting more steps!

Before this, Deborah and I had lunch at Panera Bread to keep things simple. The amount of sugar and holiday cheer has accumulated. Just soup and half a sandwich was a relief.

I tried to get up early, but rolled over and managed to start and finish the blog with the industrial breakfast. On many days (not always, I was told with an eyeroll by the gal who did the breakfast today), as the breakfast closes, the cleaning staff finishes the food. Something I have seen at many IHGs.

Thanks for reading